At yesterday's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ) questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland about D.A. Alvin Bragg.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General, 24067 May 2024, notification of concerns
00:08 regarding the Department of Justice's compliance with whistleblower protections for employees
00:13 with a security clearance.
00:15 With that, I recognize the gentleman from New Jersey.
00:19 Thank you, Chairman.
00:22 Equal justice for all.
00:23 You use those words.
00:25 Like cases treated alike.
00:28 You use those words.
00:30 All people are treated equal.
00:32 Let's just look and review a few things.
00:34 Let's look at the classified documents case.
00:37 One individual is Vice President of the United States, removes documents which he has no
00:42 right to do, Joe Biden.
00:45 He then removes documents also before he was Vice President as a U.S. Senator, no right
00:50 to do that, doesn't have the right to declassify.
00:54 Yet a special counsel is appointed, and the result of that is that, well, there's nothing
01:00 we're going to do because he's a kindly older gentleman that has a bad memory, and it wouldn't
01:08 be a good case.
01:11 And yet at the same time, a President of the United States who does have a right to declassify
01:16 documents, removes them, keeps them in a secure place, has the right to do it because he was
01:22 a President and he's indicted.
01:27 Equal justice for all.
01:29 Prosecutor Bragg, and I'm going to ask you a question about this, just your opinion.
01:32 He ran for office saying he was going to put Donald Trump in jail before he saw all the
01:41 evidence, before he knew everything about the case, before he knew anything.
01:45 He ran for office saying he was going to put another human being in jail and ran on that
01:51 as his platform.
01:53 Do you believe that it's appropriate for somebody to run for prosecutor, and by that, also in
01:59 Fulton County, Georgia, the same thing happened there with the prosecutor.
02:03 Do you think it's appropriate?
02:04 Do you think someone who's being interviewed for a position when they're going to be appointed,
02:09 where somebody who is running for office and is going to be elected at this level of government
02:15 in the judiciary should say what they want to do as far as putting somebody in jail before
02:22 they've even seen the case?
02:24 Is that appropriate, yes or no?
02:27 Your description of the Herr and Smith cases is inaccurate.
02:31 I don't know whether your description of what the two district attorneys said.
02:36 Well, then you don't look at the news.
02:37 Excuse me, Attorney General, because I only have a limited amount of time.
02:41 Everywhere, everywhere it was reported.
02:43 It was, if you knew anything, you knew that Alvin Bragg and also, again, the prosecutor
02:50 in Fulton County, Georgia, they ran on that.
02:53 And that's wrong.
02:54 That isn't equal justice for all.
02:57 It's wrong.
02:58 And this wasn't equal justice for all.
03:00 And by the way, I think my rendition of what happened when the special counsel looked at
03:04 that is pretty damn accurate.
03:06 I even put the word kindly in there.
03:08 Kindly, old gentleman, forgetful, it wouldn't be a good case for that reason.
03:14 Those are all accurate.
03:15 But I want to ask you something else.
03:17 Do you know who Jay Bradd is?
03:18 I know that you do.
03:19 He's a top aide to Jack Smith.
03:21 And I know that you must be aware that Mr. Bradd attempted to pressure the defense attorney
03:26 of a close Trump aide with a judgeship, with a judgeship, if the attorney went along with
03:32 Jack Smith's desires and his demands.
03:36 Are you aware of that?
03:37 I know Mr. Bradd to be an excellent lawyer, a long-time career prosecutor, a person of
03:43 high ethics.
03:44 I know the issue you're talking about is disputed.
03:46 Those facts are disputed in the district court in Florida, and it will be resolved by the
03:51 judge in that case.
03:53 And that's why the case was stopped, because it's obviously of concern.
03:56 There's something there.
03:58 Are you aware that on May 3rd, special counsel Smith himself acknowledged in a court filing
04:02 that after the FBI seized evidence that, and it's written on moral logo, that some of the
04:07 evidence was altered, manipulated, or disturbed?
04:12 Is that standard procedure?
04:14 I have not read anywhere where he said it was altered or manipulated.
04:19 So again, I can't accept that characterization.
04:24 Mr. Attorney General, I want to be respectful, man.
04:27 Are you living in a bubble here?
04:29 I mean...
04:30 I'm not living in a bubble, but your characterization...
04:32 Oh, my God, it was seen.
04:33 I mean, everybody saw it.
04:35 Everybody heard it.
04:36 Smith himself said it.
04:38 That's why that case was stopped.
04:39 If you can show me where he said he manipulated the evidence, I'll have a different...
04:43 You don't like my word, that there was some tampering, and absolutely he said that, that
04:48 he had touched the evidence.
04:50 And we don't know what level.
04:51 And now Americans are concerned.
04:53 God knows what level it is and whether we'll really know the truth.
04:57 And I got a question about this.
04:59 Former President Trump, as you know, is being dragged through a political travesty, and
05:03 you won't agree that it's a travesty, orchestrated by Alvin Bragg.
05:06 How is it that a man, Matthew Colangelo, the third highest ranking individual in the Department
05:13 of Justice, takes a pay cut and takes a cut in just, you know, what it is he does for
05:19 a living as far as prestige to go and join that case?
05:25 And I know you'll say you don't have the answer to that either.
05:27 I have the answer.
05:28 Trump took an enormous pay cut to become an assistant U.S. attorney.
05:32 Mr. Mueller took an enormous pay cut, both of us as partners in law firms, to work for
05:37 the public good.
05:38 But your prestige went up.
05:39 Many people have a view about doing the public good and not caring about how much money they
05:44 make.
05:45 I'm going to yield in a second, but we were lied to about Catholic churches.
05:48 We were lied to about school board meetings.
05:50 We were lied to about Russian collusion.
05:52 We were lied to about the President's sweetheart deal.
05:55 We were lied to about mishandling of classified materials.
05:57 We were lied to about Pfizer.
05:59 And I yield back.
06:00 Time, gentlemen, has expired.
06:01 The gentlelady from Pennsylvania is recognized for unanimous consent.
06:04 Yes, I have a unanimous consent.