Entering the Golden Age: Ending the Weaponization of the Justice Department
House Subcommittee on Responsiveness and Accountability to Oversight
2025-02-25
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Source: Congress.gov
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Transcript
This subcommittee will come to order. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time. We welcome everyone to today's hearing on ending the weaponization of the Justice Department. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from the great state of Alabama who is going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, and then we will remain standing for a moment of silence. Without objection, Mr. Hunt of Texas will be permitted to participate in today's hearing for the purpose of questioning the witnesses if a member yields time to him for that purpose. I will now recognize myself for an opening statement. Welcome everyone to the first hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight. Today, we are here to shine a light on something that should be deeply concerning to every single American, how our justice system was allowed to become weaponized against political opponents. Early in his presidency, Joe Biden told the nation, it's not my Justice Department, it's the Justice Department. Former Attorney General Merrick Garland promised the same thing. That was their promise. We now know it was a lie. For the past four years, it was not the people's Justice Department. It was a political weapon used to go after anybody the Biden-Harris administration felt needed to be attacked. Let me lay it out clearly, case after case, so there's no confusion on what happened.
Let's start in the great state of New York. Alvin Bragg ran for Manhattan DA, focused on only one thing, targeting Donald Trump instead of cleaning up the many problems facing New York City. After years of searching, he revived a dismissed case with the help of former DOJ officials and used a shaky legal theory to turn misdemeanors into felonies. And it wasn't just Bragg. New York's Attorney General Letitia James also made it her mission to go after President Trump. She campaigned on it. Prosecutors, attorney generals, they shouldn't campaign on politics. They should campaign on justice. She campaigned on it and she promised voters she'd quote, exact quote, get Trump. before even seeing a shred of evidence. And sure enough, once in office, she followed through, twisting civil statutes into weapons for political gain, targeting not just Trump, but his entire family business. In Fulton County, Georgia, Fannie Willis also campaigned on prosecuting President Trump. She coordinated with the partisan January 6th Committee and the Biden White House from Georgia and hired her romantic partner as the lead prosecutor. Couldn't make this stuff up. I guess office romances can sometimes take you places. For Fannie Willis and Nathan Wade, it was tropical destinations, it was luxury hotels, all on the taxpayer's dime. And while they were busy enjoying the perks, the cases they were building against Trump were falling apart under the weight of conflicts and impropriety because it was pure political lawfare. I want to just note, no one should run for DA, AG, or any legal office.
Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, nobody should do this with the sole goal of going after one political figure. It's not what those jobs are about. That's not justice. That's vengeance. Our legal system isn't supposed to be about personal grudges or political payback. It's about fairness. It's about impartiality. It's about the rule of law. That's supposed to be the standard in America. Unfortunately, under President Biden, that standard wasn't just abandoned at the state level, it was shattered. It was shattered at the federal level as well. Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed as special counsel. His lead counsel pressured a defense attorney with a judgeship offered to flip a client. So if the client flipped, he'd get a judgeship. Smith admitted to altering evidence in the Mar-a-Lago case, evidence tampering at the highest and most important level, pure political lawfare. The FBI conducted an unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago, the home of a former president.
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