Untitled Document

[00:00:00] Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. [00:00:01] Thanks for holding this hearing. Um I I [00:00:03] just want to maybe I'll start with you, [00:00:05] Professor Luther, and just see if I can [00:00:06] figure out what the the baseline here [00:00:08] is. We've we've now learned today, it's [00:00:10] been said over and over by our [00:00:11] Democratic colleagues that Jo Judge [00:00:13] Boseberg can't be held to account. He [00:00:16] did nothing wrong because he had no idea [00:00:18] no idea whose records he was issuing [00:00:21] subpoenas for. And he didn't inquire. He [00:00:24] didn't ask. He just signed it as Senator [00:00:27] Cruz was just saying. that is despite [00:00:30] USC section 6628 C. So, is that is that [00:00:34] just how it works? That it's just it's [00:00:35] fine. The judge can just whatever DOJ [00:00:37] DOJ says, he doesn't need to to inquire. [00:00:41] Separation of powers concerns, he [00:00:42] doesn't need to ask about it. Uh it [00:00:44] doesn't matter. He can just sign it. [00:00:46] >> That's certainly not how it's supposed [00:00:47] to be, but based on the evidence that's [00:00:49] publicly disclosed, that seems to be the [00:00:51] best evidence of what happened. [00:00:53] >> And is that how non-disclosure orders [00:00:56] work as well? that you can get a [00:00:58] non-disclosure order against specific [00:01:01] individuals, not to notify specific [00:01:04] individuals if there's some suggestion [00:01:07] that somewhere someone in the universe [00:01:10] might disclose or tamper with evidence [00:01:13] somehow in some way. Is that is that how [00:01:15] a specific non-disclosure order works? [00:01:17] I've never heard of such a thing, but [00:01:19] maybe I just missed it. That's the point [00:01:21] where Smith's team should have told [00:01:23] Judge Boseberg, "These are senators and [00:01:26] there are different obligations under [00:01:27] the law for how we treat them." [00:01:29] >> I've never heard of a non-disclosure [00:01:31] order. I was the attorney general of my [00:01:33] state. We sought these things in the [00:01:35] past. I've never heard of one where you [00:01:37] said, "Well, actually, we don't we can't [00:01:39] offer you any evidence that any of the [00:01:41] people targeted in the order would [00:01:43] actually tamper, but somebody out there [00:01:45] somewhere might maybe take our word for [00:01:47] it, sign the order, and he does it [00:01:49] anyway." I mean, let me just say it this [00:01:51] way. Does this actually exonerate Judge [00:01:53] Boseberg? I mean, does this make it [00:01:54] better? My Democrat colleagues have [00:01:56] offered this as, "Oh, he's just doing [00:01:57] his job." Does this make it better or [00:01:59] make it worse? [00:02:00] >> No. I think that what has shifted from [00:02:02] maybe a month ago when this broke for [00:02:04] the first time is it's not so much that [00:02:06] Judge Boseberg is being intentionally [00:02:09] uh it's not intentional, it's more [00:02:12] negligent. And that's that's I think the [00:02:14] situation. [00:02:15] >> It's grossly negligent. But I'll just [00:02:16] say this. Here's here's my bigger issue [00:02:18] is that there's a pattern here with what [00:02:20] happened in the last four years where [00:02:22] every time it every time it comes to [00:02:24] hold somebody accountable for something [00:02:26] that happened to real people, there's [00:02:28] always an excuse as to why it can't be [00:02:29] done. And senators, sure, whatever. But [00:02:32] let's talk about the individual private [00:02:34] American citizens who had SWAT teams [00:02:37] sent to their homes in the early morning [00:02:39] hours to take them into custody for [00:02:43] protesting peacefully saying prayers [00:02:45] outside of an abortion clinic. I'm [00:02:47] thinking about Mark Hul and his family. [00:02:49] An FBI SWAT team came to his home armed [00:02:52] a SWAT team took him into custody, [00:02:55] dragged him off. He was later acquitted, [00:02:57] by the way, by a jury for any [00:02:59] wrongdoing. We had the anti-terrorism [00:03:01] division of the FBI activated against [00:03:04] parents who went to schoolboard meetings [00:03:06] and asked about their children wearing [00:03:08] masks at these meetings. The [00:03:10] anti-terrorism division. We had the FBI [00:03:14] recruiting informants that spies into [00:03:17] Catholic parishes in this country, [00:03:20] making a list of churches that the FBI [00:03:24] or at least the Richmond field office [00:03:25] had serious security concerns about, [00:03:28] singling them out for disfavorable [00:03:29] treatment. As far as I know, nobody [00:03:32] associated with anything I have just [00:03:34] mentioned has been disciplined in any [00:03:36] way. In any way. So maybe you think, I [00:03:40] don't care about the senators. They get [00:03:42] what's coming to them. Fine. What about [00:03:44] individual private citizens who are just [00:03:47] exercising their constitutional rights? [00:03:49] What about parents who are just going to [00:03:51] schoolboard meetings? What about [00:03:52] parishioners who are coming to church in [00:03:55] a church of their choice in the United [00:03:57] States of America and have their own [00:03:59] government recruiting informants into [00:04:02] the church. It is a gross pattern of [00:04:06] abuse of law that went on for four years [00:04:09] in this country like I have never seen [00:04:12] or read about in the history of this [00:04:14] country. And nobody, to my knowledge, [00:04:17] nobody has been held accountable. And [00:04:19] now we're told today, well, you sure as [00:04:21] can't you sure as heck can't do it for [00:04:23] this judge or any other judge. And you [00:04:24] can't touch anybody who went after these [00:04:26] parents or went after these [00:04:27] parishioners. Nope. Nope. You just just [00:04:29] move on. What is it that uh one of my [00:04:31] colleagues said a minute ago? This is [00:04:32] just a show. This is just a show. No, [00:04:34] actually, it's not a show. All of these [00:04:37] things happened. This is not a game. [00:04:40] People's rights were violated. People of [00:04:43] faith were targeted in extreme ways. And [00:04:47] nobody's been held accountable for it. [00:04:50] And I don't recognize [00:04:52] this country or our constitution and [00:04:54] those practices. And if this is allowed [00:04:55] to go on, we won't have either of those [00:04:57] things in the future. Thank you, Mr.