In today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) voiced opposition to Jeanine Pirro, nominee to be U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C.
00:00...to be nominated to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia following Ed Martin's withdrawal.
00:06Ms. Pirro has demonstrated for decades that she prioritizes her relationship with Donald Trump, now president, over almost anything else.
00:15She initially condemned the January 6 rioters and their attack on the Capitol and then did an about face.
00:22In January 2025, she called January 6 rioters, quote, hostages, the rioters, hostages.
00:30She also complained about a 22-year sentence imposed on Proud Boys leader Enrique Terrio, arguing he should not be subject to such a long prison term.
00:39Notably, a judge found that Terrio's actions led to, quote, 200 men amped up for battle encircling the Capitol.
00:48After his release, Terrio said, quote, success is going to be retribution.
00:53He then posted a video of himself stalking officers who defended the Capitol on January 6.
01:01Ms. Pirro has also argued that prosecutors handling January 6 cases should be prosecuted themselves.
01:14When asked whether January 6 rioters were convicted of violent assaults on police officers should have been given full and unconditional pardon by President Trump,
01:25Ms. Pirro implausibly claimed, and, quote, she was not aware that the rioters who were convicted of violent assaults were given full and unconditional pardons.
01:34They were.
01:35The facts show otherwise.
01:36At least 169 January 6 rioters were convicted of assaulting police officers.
01:42So here she is defending the rioters who attacked the police who protected all of us today to come to this building and meet peaceably.
01:52And here she is saying that those who were attacking the police were hostages and mistreated.
01:57And she apparently favors the policy of firing the prosecutors who went after the rioters.
02:03The prosecutors went after the rioters for attacking the police.
02:07When I met with her last week, I asked if she always accepted the assignments given her by supervisors when she was an assistant district attorney.
02:16As expected, she said yes.
02:19But when I asked her whether it was appropriate to terminate prosecutors in her office for their work on January 6, she refused to answer.
02:26She also claimed she hadn't fired anybody.
02:28Well, just weeks ago, since Ms. Perrault became interim U.S. attorney, three career prosecutors in the U.S. attorney's office, including the leader of the capital C section, were fired by the Justice Department.
02:41It is hard to believe that Ms. Perrault had no knowledge of these terminations.
02:44I'm also concerned that she's willing to ignore the Constitution when justifying the unlawful actions of the president.
02:51When discussing the administration's deporting immigrants without due process, she said, quote,
02:57Fifth Amendment says nothing about illegals, so cut the crap, unquote.
03:03As Ms. Perrault knows full well, the Fifth Amendment applies to everyone present in the United States when it demands, and I quote,
03:10no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process.
03:15Ms. Perrault's devotion to the president also extends to perpetuating the big lie.
03:19She still won't answer the question, who won the 2020 election.
03:23With her large platform on the mothership, Fox News, she repeated falsehoods about the 2020 election,
03:30leading to Fox News paying nearly $800 million to settle defamation claims brought by Dominion Voting Systems.
03:38For example, it was Ms. Perrault who falsely claimed that Dominion Voting Systems, quote,
03:43started in Venezuela with Cuban money.
03:46That the company had software backdoor to flip votes around.
03:50Ms. Perrault's fealty to the president extends to attacking lawmakers who are not fully in line with the MAGA agenda,
03:56including many members on both sides of the aisle.
03:59Her record makes it clear that she'll prioritize President Trump's MAGA agenda,
04:04not the rule of law nor the Constitution.
04:07Trump is already using the Justice Department to protect his allies and go after his enemies,
04:11and Ms. Perrault will be willing to accomplish it in weaponizing the justice system.
04:15I will give her credit.
04:16She asked for an appointment to come and see me.
04:19She had to know my predilections toward her nomination.
04:22And we did meet, and I credit her with that.
04:25I suspect she's going to be approved by this committee.
04:27I will try to work with her.
04:29She has many positive things in her background.
04:31But the particular elements that I just laid out cannot be explained,
04:37and I don't believe justify her having this important position.
04:41So I'm going to vote against her nomination.
04:42Before I call on Senator Coons, I'm going to put us.
