At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) questioned Kevin Gafford Ritz, nominee to be United States Circuit Judge for the Sixth Circuit, about his record.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Ritz, you are a political activist, aren't you?
00:08 I would not consider myself that at all, Senator.
00:12 Okay. When you were sworn in as U.S. Attorney, you gave a speech, didn't you?
00:18 I did.
00:19 Okay. Here's what you said. I want a quote from your speech. "But you should know that
00:27 justice for me is about more than putting people in prison. For me, it's also about
00:35 who votes and how hard it is to cast that vote. It's about where pipelines go. It's
00:44 about where bus routes go. Justice is about whether people in all zip codes can get along,
00:54 whether women have access to health care, whether citizens have affordable housing or
01:00 clean drinking water. Sometimes those are Department of Justice issues. Sometimes they
01:09 are not. But for me, they're all justice issues." Did I read that accurately?
01:18 I believe so, Senator.
01:20 Did you really remove the Tennessee state flag from your conference room?
01:27 Senator, I appreciate you asking about this again. As the chief federal law enforcement
01:31 --
01:32 Well, did you do it?
01:33 So, I felt it was fundamentally inappropriate when I gave press conferences and similar
01:39 statements to the public to indicate or suggest somehow that I spoke for the state, which
01:45 I don't under our system of federalism.
01:47 Are you embarrassed to be from Tennessee?
01:49 Not at all, Senator. I am from Tennessee, grew up as a public school kid in Tennessee.
01:54 But you were embarrassed to have the Tennessee flag?
01:57 That's not it at all, Senator.
02:00 You have a history of lying to your professional colleagues, don't you?
02:06 That's not true, Senator.
02:09 Do you know a former public defender named Stephen Shankman?
02:15 I knew him to a degree. I'm not sure we ever had any cases together. I knew who he was,
02:21 yes.
02:22 Well, in a private email, not meant for public consumption to another one of your professional
02:27 colleagues, this is what Mr. Shankman said, talking about your lying. He said, "It is
02:33 unfortunate that this is not the first, second, third of whatever occasion that this sort
02:38 of thing has occurred. But everyone should be aware of this unfortunate pattern of behavior.
02:44 You should be aware," he said to the other lawyer, before the other lawyer dealt with
02:50 you, "Your clients should be aware, and you should proceed with extreme caution."
02:56 Was Mr. Shankman lying?
02:59 To the degree he suggested that I acted unethically, that was not accurate, and it wasn't in any
03:04 occasion, much less on numerous occasions.
03:07 Okay, let's talk about this case, United States v. Von Rico Weber, which you claim to not
03:14 remember. But before I do that, a few seconds ago, you lied to Senator Hawley, didn't you?
03:25 I'm on your oath, Senator, I did not lie.
03:27 You said you have no knowledge of any complaint, professional complaint made against you, didn't
03:34 you?
03:35 I said I have no knowledge of any sort of formal complaint, and he read from a letter
03:38 that I don't believe I ever saw.
03:40 And you were shocked? You never heard of that before?
03:43 If there were a formal complaint, that, as I said, I had not known about that.
03:48 Okay. You were amazed?
03:50 I don't recall any of that.
03:52 Any of it?
03:53 I recall this Mr. Weber's case.
03:54 You should have amnesia about it.
03:57 Again, I am unaware of any formal complaint or investigation, certainly was not --
04:02 You believe in the tooth fairy?
04:06 Senator, I don't --
04:07 You believe in the Easter bunny?
04:10 Now in this case, United States v. Von Rico Weber, you lied to the defense counsel.
04:19 And the defense counsel then had to go before the court and withdraw a plea for his counsel.
04:31 And a complaint was filed about which you apparently have amnesia.
04:36 And the Justice Department replaced you.
04:39 And the lawyer from the Justice Department who replaced you, this is what the lawyer
04:45 said.
04:46 The new attorney said about you.
04:49 So these allegations against Mr. Ritz are, quote, serious.
04:56 And it is taken so seriously, referring to the Department of Justice, by our office,
05:03 that is one of the reasons I'm here.
05:04 And Mr. Ritz will be more than likely be taken off this case because of those allegations.
05:11 End quote.
05:15 You lied to Senator Hawley, didn't you?
05:17 I didn't lie to the defense counsel in that case.
05:19 I didn't lie today, Senator.
05:21 Now, my good friend Senator Ossoff asked you if you'd follow the law.
05:27 And you said yeah.
05:30 But if you're lying to us today, we're stuck with you, aren't we?
05:36 Senator, I have not lied and did not lie in that case.
05:40 You just have amnesia.
05:42 I did not lie in that case.
05:44 There was a written plea agreement with the entire agreement of the parties.
05:55 If you believe that, you believe Elvis is alive and running a small bait stand on Lake
06:03 Erie.
06:04 Shame on you.
06:06 Mr. Ritz, I asked our staff here, who review all sorts of nominees, qualifications, and
06:17 backgrounds, how it would be possible that someone could file a complaint against someone
06:23 and they didn't know it.
06:24 They said it is not uncommon at all for OPR to decide not to act on that letter of complaint
06:31 and not to proceed with it and not even to notify the person accused.
06:34 That's my understanding as well.
06:35 But again, I hadn't -- yes.
06:39 We think that's a fact.
06:40 So this notion about amnesia, whatever it may be, it is credible, at least possible,
06:46 that exactly as you portrayed it, they never notified you.
06:50 Senator Booker.
06:53 Thank you, Mr. Ritz, for being here.