'He Pardoned A Bunch Of People Who Attacked Police Officers': Hassan Skewers Trump Over J6 Pardons

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During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) spoke about president Trump's decision to pardon people convicted of with crimes related to the January 6 Capitol Insurrection.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Chairman.

00:02Thank you, Senator Lankford.

00:03Senator Hassan.

00:04Oh, thanks, Mr. Chairman, and to you and the ranking member for this hearing.

00:08Good morning to our nominees, and congratulations on your nominations to you and your families,

00:13because I know this is a full family effort.

00:17I'm going to start with a question, and with respect to my colleague from Oklahoma, I want

00:22to be very clear.

00:23I ask all nominees this question.

00:25And if directed by the president to take an action that would break the law, would you

00:29follow the law or follow the president's directive?

00:32And I'm not talking about regulatory interpretation that courts decide.

00:36That's part of our democracy.

00:37I'm talking about a president whose OMB director sat in front of me in a committee hearing and

00:42said he did not believe that he or the president had to follow the Impoundment Control Act of

00:461974, even though the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that it is constitutional.

00:51So, right down the line, if you're directed to take an action by the president that would

00:57break the law, are you going to follow the law or the president's directive, Mr. Spitzer?

01:01I will follow the law.

01:02Mr. Sherrall.

01:03I don't think I'd be asked to do that, but I'm an attorney.

01:05I follow the law.

01:07I was in Trump 45, honored to serve in that role.

01:09I was never asked to violate the law, and I believe if President Trump were here right

01:13now, he'd say, Mike Stewart, follow the law.

01:15Well, good, because he pardoned a bunch of people who attacked police officers and were convicted

01:20by a jury of ordinary Americans.

01:22Mr. Thurr.

01:22Senator Hassan, I don't expect I would ever be asked that, but irrespective of the actions

01:27of others, I will follow the law.

01:29Mr. Stewart, we share a commitment to ending the scourge of the fentanyl epidemic.

01:35I represent New Hampshire, and as you know, our 1.4 million people have been devastated by

01:40the fentanyl epidemic, just as the people of West Virginia have.

01:43Addiction medicine doctors across the country agree that methadone is one of the most effective

01:49medications to treat people with opioid use disorder.

01:52In his testimony before Congress, Secretary Kennedy said that medication-assisted treatment

01:57is a critical tool for preventing overdose deaths.

02:01This is one area where Secretary Kennedy and I agree.

02:04As a state senator, you introduced a bill that would have outlawed methadone clinics in your

02:09state, which would have effectively ended the use of methadone to treat opioid addiction

02:14in West Virginia.

02:15I understand that there are bad actors in the methadone clinic space, to be sure, but do

02:20you think Secretary Kennedy is wrong to support medication-assisted treatment like methadone?

02:25So I thank you for the question very much, and it's such an important question, and it rides

02:30inside my soul and in the times of the essence.

02:32But I support and agree with Secretary Kennedy full-heartedly on the issue of medically-assisted

02:39treatment.

02:40That story that you're talking about in terms of methadone, the issues of methadone, suboxone,

02:47other treatment methodologies with respect to the opiate scourge or people who suffer with

02:52substance abuse disorder, one of the most important things they get is they need wraparound services

02:57with that.

02:58Yeah, no, I understand that.

02:59I'm just trying to get at, so you'll support efforts at the department to expand access to

03:04all types of medication-assisted treatment, including both methadone and buprenorphine?

03:08I'm going to support Secretary Kennedy on this issue.

03:10I agree with him on it, but keep in mind there's a difference between being a policymaker in West

03:15Virginia.

03:15No, I just want to understand that you agree that the gold standard here is medication-assisted

03:21treatment for fentanyl addiction.

03:23In particular, buprenorphine's important.

03:25Doctors can now prescribe it in their offices.

03:28It's really important.

03:29I agree that wraparound services are also important.

03:32I just wanted to make sure that we're clear on that.

03:34Let me move forward to Mr. Shirello.

03:37If confirmed, you'd oversee the distribution of grant funding that Congress appropriates to

03:43the department.

03:44Congress appropriated $286 million for the Title X Family Planning Program this year.

03:49This funding supports preventive care visits for nearly 3 million Americans each year.

03:55As part of this care, the Title X funds cervical cancer screenings, which detect possible signs

04:01of cancer in tens of thousands of women every year.

04:04If confirmed, will you commit to distribute every dollar that Congress appropriates for the

04:09life-saving Title X program in accordance with the law?

04:12Thank you for the question, Senator Hassan, and I appreciated the opportunity to meet with

04:18you and talk about this issue before.

04:21The Title X issues that you're talking about, and the particular cancer screening, are issues

04:25that have hit my family, and we can't emphasize the importance of getting tested and being evaluated

04:32on those things.

04:33As I told you at the beginning here, I will follow the law when it comes to appropriations

04:37and managing, and I will lean heavily on my operating divisions to guide as to what the

04:43mission-critical funding is necessary.

04:45All right.

04:45Well, I appreciate that.

04:46Right now, the administration is withholding half a million dollars in Title X money from

04:50my state, even though it has been appropriated, and it is supposed to be used for these cancer

04:54screenings.

04:55So I hope we can get to work to getting that money out.

04:57Finally, Mr. Switzer, we need to work on a bipartisan basis to counter China's unfair and

05:03abusive trade practices.

05:04Unfortunately, the president seems to back down every time there is a chance to hold the

05:09Chinese government accountable, like just this week extending the tariff pause on China

05:13without any clear wins for the United States.

05:16Meanwhile, the administration has targeted our allies, like Canada, with tariffs that raise

05:21costs for families in New Hampshire and damage our economic partnerships.

05:25As Deputy U.S. Trade Representative covering Asia, would you advise administration officials

05:30to reverse tariffs that target our allies, like Canada, in order to focus on actually

05:35combating unfair trade from adversaries like the Chinese government?

05:40Thank you, Senator, for that question.

05:42What I will say specifically, I'm not in right now, so the specifics of Canada are very difficult

05:47for me to speak about.

05:48But what I can say is that the totality of the trade policy of the president is to address

05:55a global problem.

05:57We have a global national security problem that is where China is at the center in many

06:03cases, but it's not solely about China.

06:05And so what I would say is that I would recommend that we continue to focus on China with the

06:12recognition that China is the second largest economy in the world.

06:15Well, and let me stop you, because I'm over and I appreciate the chair's indulgence here.

06:19I just got back from a bipartisan trip to Canada.

06:22Our best friends to our north, my state's biggest trading partner, are having to look

06:27elsewhere for the kind of partnerships that are going to undermine our relationship and,

06:32frankly, our joint security interests with Canada, who is a highly cooperative and constructive

06:39partner with northern border security as well as other issues.

06:43We are making a grave mistake in the way we are treating Canada, and it is going to haunt

06:48us for years if we do not change quickly.

06:50Thank you, Mr. Chair.

06:51Thank you, Mr. Chair.

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