Ted Cruz Fires Back At Dick Durbin Over 'False Charges' Against Key Trump DOJ Nominee

13 hours ago

At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz defended Aaron Reitz, President Trump's nominee to lead the DOJ's Office of Legal Policy, after attacks on him by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).

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Transcript

00:00nomination. Mr. Chairman, Aaron Reitz has demonstrated he is not fit to serve in

00:09any role in the Department of Justice. He believes there are instances in which a

00:13public official may defy a court order that should concern every member of this

00:18committee on both sides of the table. As Senator Kennedy said to Mr. Reitz during

00:23his hearing, quote, don't ever ever take the position you're not going to follow

00:27the order of the federal court ever, close quote. I couldn't agree more. Failing to

00:32unequivocally commit to following federal court orders should disqualify

00:37any nominee before this committee. This is not only my concern. Mr. Reitz

00:42attempted to hide his disturbing views on many issues, deleting approximately

00:484,000 social media posts. Nothing was off limits in his social media posts that we

00:54uncovered. The venom and self-righteousness in his posts are fair

00:59warning of what he would bring to the Department of Justice. There was one

01:03episode involving the Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. I am not going to go

01:08into it because he publicly apologized for what he said, but there are other

01:12things of concern. I will only speak of one. Before Derek Chauvin was convicted

01:17of murdering George Floyd, Mr. Reitz wrote, and I quote, no question in my

01:23mind, he wrote, that Chauvin is not guilty. Really? Did he see the nine minutes and

01:2929 second video of Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd's neck as he cried out for his

01:35mother? Can you ever forget the look in his eyes? Several Republican members of

01:40this committee rightfully spoke out against this heinous crime. After Chauvin

01:43was convicted, Mr. Reitz called the jury decision, quote, a bogus guilty verdict,

01:49close quote. Mr. Reitz's disrespect for the finality of court orders is matched by

01:54his disrespect for the finality of a jury verdict. He's unfit to lead the

01:58Office of Legal Policy and I urge my colleagues to oppose him.

02:02Mr. Chairman? Mr. Chairman? I could briefly respond. I will say it is rich

02:12listening to our Democrat colleagues profess their fidelity to the rule of

02:16law after four years of happily turning a blind eye to Joe Biden and the Biden

02:22Justice Department, ignoring federal law, refusing to force federal immigration law,

02:26blatantly defying the law, and ironically the the litany of false charges that

02:33that the senator from Illinois just directed at Mr. Reitz is really striking

02:39but but their favorite talking point is that that he will defy federal court

02:42orders now. He's been a practicing lawyer for many years. He's never defied a

02:46federal court order but I'll tell you who has. Joe Biden. And in fact let's read

02:51what Joe Biden said in his tweet. Here's what Joe Biden said, quote, the Supreme

02:57Court tried to block me from relieving student debt but they didn't stop me.

03:02I've relieved student debt for over 5 million Americans. I'm going to keep

03:07going. That's the same Joe Biden they were happy to salute and listen to, defy

03:12the court if it's in favor of their left-wing political agenda. I will point

03:19out the aspersions Ranking Member Durbin just cast to Mr. Reitz. He is also in the

03:25Marines as a reserve, a major in the Marines. He has fought to defend this

03:29nation and he will make an exemplary assistant attorney general at the

03:34Department of Justice and I for one I'm glad we are getting officials at the

03:39Department of Justice who will follow the damn law instead of being lawless

03:44and treating the Department of Justice and FBI as the personal enforcement arm

03:50of the Democrat National Committee. I urge everyone to vote yes, although I'm

03:55confident everyone on the left side of the aisle is going to vote no because

03:59for all their words of the rule of law they could not bring themselves once to

04:05demand the rule of law be followed from the Biden Justice Department.

04:35No. Mr. Coons? No. Mr. Pruitt? No. Mr. Pruitt? No. Mr. Reynolds? No. Mr. Booker? No by proxy. Mr. Padilla? No. Mr. Welch? No. Mr. Schiff? No. Chairman Grafley? Aye.

04:55On invoking item 12, the nays are 10.

04:57The nomination will favorably reported. The committee is adjourned.

05:01Mr. Chairman...

Ted Cruz Fires Back At Dick Durbin Over 'False Charges' Against Key Trump DOJ Nominee

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