Adam Schiff Calls Out GOP: Don't Boost Trump Nom And Claim To Be 'Serious About Combating Antisemitism'

6 days ago

At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) decried the nomination of Ed Martin for U.S. Attorney, whom he called a "fellow traveler with a known bigot anti-Semite."

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Transcript

00:00agenda because I want to take care of these prescription drug bills. Yes, thank

00:05you Mr. Chairman. I'll keep my remarks brief. I want to just thank Ranking

00:11Member Durbin for his leadership on this and for raising this issue and

00:14requesting a hearing. I placed a hold on Mr. Barton for many of the reasons that

00:20the Ranking Member has articulated. There are others as well as Ranking Member

00:26Durbin alluded. This is just a partial list of our concerns. Some involve the

00:31fact that he has moved to dismiss cases against his own clients. A patent

00:38conflict of interest. But the list is long and I know it is extraordinary to

00:44request a hearing on a U.S. Attorney nominee. I would urge the Chairman

00:48instead of rejecting their quest to as a judge would take the matter under

00:52submission to let us make the further case for why this merits a hearing. But

00:59on the particular issue that Ranking Member Durbin raised, his embrace of this

01:04known and vocal anti-Semite, Hale Cucinelli. I want to just broaden the

01:15aperture a bit because I see the administration going after universities

01:21using the pretext of anti-Semitism to bludgeon universities to threaten their

01:26livelihood with threats to hundreds of millions of dollars if not more in grant

01:31funding in the name of combating anti-Semitism.

01:36And I want to make the point do not bludgeon universities in my name. I'm

01:43Jewish. Do not bludgeon the universities in my name. Do not do this pretending

01:48you're serious about combating anti-Semitism and that is not what this

01:51is about. You want to combat anti-Semitism? Don't embrace a U.S. Attorney

01:57who wraps his arms around a known anti-Semite like Hale Cucinelli. Just

02:03don't do it. If Ed Martin was at a college university with Hale Cucinelli

02:09they'd probably be both grabbed by masked ICE agents and whisked out of the

02:14country. I'm not asking for that either, but we should at least make sure that

02:20we're not confirming a fellow traveler with a known bigot anti-Semite like Hale

02:26Cucinelli. Look, it was a painful year I think for everyone in the

02:33Jewish community watching what was happening in universities around the

02:36country. It's still painful. I have a lot of disagreement with how universities

02:42handle many of these protests, but to ignore any due process for these

02:50universities, to grab students off the street wearing masks, that's not how we

02:58act in this country. And to chill speech on campus, to attack academic freedom, to

03:06do so with no process whatsoever merely because the administration can. This is

03:12how we're going to kill these premier institutions and all of the profound

03:19research and the economic benefits the country derives. So if you're going to do

03:24this, don't do it in my name because this is not about anti-Semitism. And if

03:33we want to be serious about it, we can't be confirming people that are wrapping

03:37their arms around bigots like Hale Cucinelli. So I appreciate the chairman

03:42hearing us out and taking the matter under submission and we will provide you

03:48Mr. Chairman with the itemization of our concerns and hope that you will

03:53consider a hearing and I yield back.

03:58Senator from Connecticut.

04:00Mr. Chairman, thanks for allowing us to...

Adam Schiff Calls Out GOP: Don't Boost Trump Nom And Claim To Be 'Serious About Combating Antisemitism'

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