• 2 days ago
During Wednesday’s Senate Environment and Public Works Committee nomination hearing, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) questioned Sean Donahue, Trump’s nominee to be an Assistant Administrator of the EPA.

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Transcript
00:00Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Donohue, how long have you been practicing as a member of the
00:06Bar? Since 2021, Senator. So for roughly four years? That's correct, Senator. But I graduated
00:15law school years before that, in 2017. And as a practicing lawyer for four years, do
00:23you know how many attorneys you'll be supervising at the EPA? Yes, Senator, it's over 200.
00:30Over 200 lawyers? Yes, but thankfully there is a very well laid out hierarchical structure.
00:37You would be at the top of that hierarchy, right? That's correct. So let me ask you with your four
00:41years of experience, can you open a criminal investigation without evidence of wrongdoing?
00:48Senator, I'm not a crim pro expert, but the answer to your question would be no.
00:53No. And if an attorney was asked to open a criminal investigation without probable cause
01:01to believe there was evidence of a crime, that would be improper and an abuse of authority,
01:07would it not? It very well may be, yes, Senator. And you are aware, aren't you, that a senior
01:16Department of Justice official with 24 years of experience practicing as an AUSA
01:23was asked to write a letter to a bank about the greenhouse gas reduction fund and to assert that
01:31the funds needed to be frozen because of a criminal investigation. You are aware of that?
01:37I read about this in the press, as I'm sure you did. I was not involved and still not involved in
01:44whatever criminal probe is ongoing. But you have been a participant in meetings and discussions
01:53over trying to go after the greenhouse gas reduction funds, have you not?
01:59Senator, OGC is always involved in matters of great significance as this to provide
02:09a sound legal advice. Well, I'm not asking about the office generally. I'm asking about you
02:13personally. You personally have been involved in discussions with others at EPA about going
02:17after these funds, have you not? Senator, I've been involved in a variety of discussions,
02:22including those concerning the greenhouse gas reduction fund, mostly on the civil defense side
02:30once we were sued by three of the big recipients. Knowing that it would be improper and abuse of
02:37power to open investigation or to allege that investigation was ongoing without evidence of
02:44wrongdoing, you are aware that a senior attorney at the U.S. Attorney's Office of 24 years resigned
02:52because she felt she could not ethically write such a letter to the bank or open such an
02:58investigation. Are you aware of that? As I indicated before, Senator, I did see those news
03:03reports, but I'm not intimately familiar with her work or any... Well, let me ask you this.
03:12If you were asked by Lee Zeldin to instruct the lawyers in the criminal division at EPA to open
03:20investigation without evidence of a crime, would you instruct the attorneys to do it nonetheless?
03:28Senator, the direct answer to your question would be no, I will follow the law.
03:35And what should be the repercussion be if attorneys, as Denise Chung alleges,
03:44instructed her to do so in the absence of probable cause? What should the consequence be for those
03:49lawyers? I wouldn't want to comment on that, Senator. Well, I'd like you to comment on it.
03:54You're going to be overseeing the department. You're going to be responsible for disciplining
03:58attorneys who engage in unethical conduct. So what would your recommendation be for how to
04:05discipline an attorney that would use the coercive power of the government, would announce investigation
04:10without a basis for a political reason? What would your recommendation be? Should they continue to
04:16work at the EPA or should they continue to work in the Justice Department? Senator, I wouldn't like
04:21to answer hypotheticals, but... Well, this is all too real a circumstance, not hypothetical. And
04:34the actions that are taking place right now
04:39that have caused senior prosecutors to resign over this action by EPA, that have caused other
04:45prosecutors to resign over other Department of Justice misconduct regarding the mayor of New York,
04:52the illegal actions to target law firms that represent clients or have in the past adverse
04:59to the president's personal interests, these are all terrible abuses of the coercive power of the
05:05federal government, its most dangerous power, the power to prosecute people. We need people in all
05:12these departments who are willing to say no and are willing to sanction those who engage in that
05:17kind of unethical conduct. Madam Chair, I yield back.

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