morning, everyone. you're live in judiciary committee will begin girl and is expected to push back against gop attacks on the justice department. >> and gop claims i am that the doj is weaponized against donald trump. also, opening statements are underway in the trial of the president's son, hunter biden, on three felony gun charges, but there are already some developments in sayyed that courtroom will bring you and president biden is about to announce an executive order on illegal immigration, cracking down on the flow of migrants or false the southern border. the move is controversial. it's drawing fire from republicans, no surprise, but even from border patrol agents will find out why. >> but first let's go to paul reaches outside the courthouse in delaware where hunter biden's trial is starting. paul, you've got some breaking news about the jury, what just happened that's right. >> even before opening statements got underway this morning, we already lost a juror now, this juror, we know this is a woman as she said yesterday in court during the jury selection process she is unemployed and overnight she emailed the court to say that she did not want to serve position lives about an hour away and she didn't realize she had to be here every day and didn't want to go through that commute. she also said that the only reason she showed up yesterday, this was her dad took the day off to bring her here. so allison, it does not appear that there is a political or a safety reason for her saying she does not want to serve. but notable, we've already lost one juror before the trial really gets under ray. of course, there are four alternates. one of them will be selected to feel receipt before opening statements start any minute. now yeah you do have to be there every day. >> that is that really is what's expected. but thank you very much. we'll see what else today brings fall up next for the breaking news. okay. and just moments, attorney general merrick garland, who will defend the justice department before congress. these are some live pictures from inside the room. house republicans want to hold him in contempt for refusing to turn over recordings of president biden's interview with special counsel robert hur garland is expected to push back though, including on the accusation that the doj is targeting donald trump for political purposes. joining me now cnn's lauren fox on capitol hill and cnn's katelyn polantz in washington okay. so lauren, do we know what the attorney general plans to say? >> yeah. we are getting an early glimpse of what he's opening statement is going to be in just a few minutes. allison, he is expected to tell house republicans and house democrats on this committee that nothing he is doing is intended to go after president trump, that the people who worked at the justice department are making decisions based on the law. he's expected to say that certain members of the committee and the oversight committee are seeking contempt as a means of obtaining for no legitimate purpose sensitive law enforcement information that could harm the integrity of future investigations. this effort is only the most recent sent in a long line of attacks on the justice department's work. he also is saying that the folks who work at the justice department are simply doing their job. now this comes as house republicans are trying to assert efforts to try to cut funding to the justice department as they begin their annual appropriation season and they are trying to crack down on the justice department through legislation and actually just a few minutes ago, our colleagues who are outside the house republican conference meeting reporting that inside that meeting, speaker mike johnson laid out a three-pronged strategy for house republicans to try to go after the justice department, after donald trump was convicted in new york last week, allison ryan caitlin, we also know that they want to hold attorney general garland in contempt. so is this all a fait accompli meaning what republicans do that regardless of what he says today, they may. >> allison, let's take a minute to remember exactly what the clash is over that is bubbling into this contempt discussion that house republicans are having with garland. so garland is speaking more broadly about defending the justice farm, but house republicans are mad at him because they want the audio tape of joe biden sitting down with special counsel robert hur and giving an interview a lengthy interview about how he he had classified documents in his possession in an investigation that resulted in no charges. ultimately garland is telling congress, we're not giving you that audio tape. and in fact, alice and cnn is even suing for access to that audiotape. and the justice department is separately in court telling the judge, yeah, we're not giving over this audio tape we've given a transcript of biden. we have too many fears of chilling witnesses hurting future investigations. so that is what the contempt fight is over. and right now, merrick garland says, no, remember though, even if the audio tape does get produced publicly at some point, perhaps under a judge's order, maybe potentially there is this history of public ins picking these types of battles with cabinet officials including in the biden administration, but also dating back to eric holder as the attorney general, who was held in contempt for the first time in a long time starting that process where an attorney general is guest on by the opposing party. in congress, just as a way to make a political point. >> thank you for the refresher on that background that is really valuable. lauren, here's another confounding issue today last night, three republicans on the house judiciary sent the attorney general a letter demanding information about the prosecution of january 6, criminals. okay. it says, quote, we're concerned about the department of justice's aggressive prosecutions of american citizens who were present at the us capitol on january 6, 2021 now, lauren, the convicts from january 6, tried to kill police officers they ended up in during 140 police officers, how to republicans explain why they support violence against law enforcement well, allison, you can expect that that topic is likely to come up today. >> it's important to remember that this is a general oversight hearing. the department of justice. so people like thomas massie, who sent that letter last night, they are expected to ask garland about that very issue and we'll get a lot more insight. but this has been something that house republicans have been fighting against for several years now, this is not a new issue, just some please something that republicans are certainly going to be talking about with garland in there. and just a few minutes. >> well, we look forward to hearing what they're trying. general says about that meanwhile, the letter that i just read, kaitlan also spread some baseless conspiracy theories, including the quote investigations have pointed to the fbi's possible involvement in facilitating think the events of january 6 there's no evidence of that, of course, in fact, the fbi informants were trying to stop the violence. there. that's why they were there but as the alleged source for these republicans, the letter cited a new york post article about the fbi informants who were sent to the stop, the steal rally, two surveil what the violent trump's supporters were up to so again how exactly our republicans threading this this is one of those things, allison, where republicans keep pushing this idea and it just is not being borne out in the facts the fbi director has said that was not what happened happened on january 6. >> there have been hundreds of successful prosecutions. people pleading guilty who took part in those attacks and essentially saying that they were wrong for what they did. and another point on what lauren was talking about regarding the people being held, those people are very small number of the hundreds of convicted people who have been convicted in january 6 cases. and they are largely the people who are in jail. they are largely violent offenders. they receive extremely long sentences, longer than they're being held pretrial. >> so what is being said about january 6 on capitol hill often is just not the case. >> in court. >> okay. lauren box, katelyn polantz. thank you. both very much for all this reporting. we're going to continue to monitor this hearing that as you can see, is beginning. we'll be watching it throughout the hour. we'll bring you the attorney general's opening statements when he begins speaking. >> okay. also happening right now, opening statements in the trial of hunter biden and we just learned that one juror has been dismissed, will bring you the latest from there birth. >> we have schreiber, so get nine on cnn everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. news 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already been dismissed. what's happening now? >> that's exactly right before opening statements. i've got underway. a juror was dismissed after she emailed the court last night, and said she didn't realize that she had to be here every day. she lives an hour away and didn't want to endure that commute. now we have some information about her from yesterday he said during jury selection that she is unemployed because vaguely aware of the case and that it had something to do with drug use, but it doesn't appear that there is any political reason that she is a stepping down from this responsibility also doesn't appear that there's any concerns for her safety, her concern seem to be this commute. she said she only showed up yesterday because her father took the day off from work to bring her here. now, she has been replaced by an alternate juror and opening statements are underway inside a prosecutors are up first, and the theme of their case is, quote, no one is above the law. now, they claim to their opening statement that hunter biden i was addicted to crack and lied on a federal form about his addiction when buying the god, of course, that speaks to the heart of this case. they went on to tell the jury that no one is allowed to lie on a federal form like that, not even hunter biden. now what's interesting about this, allison is opening statements as these town very similar to the opening statements that we heard about seven or eight weeks ago into the trunk trial up in york vary some more arguments. i've by the prosecution that this case which has faced some questions just like the one in new york did, is being brought because again, a quote, no one is above the law. and then also very similar arguments on the defense, sayyed trump attorneys hunter biden's attorneys, both arguing, but they're facing a criminal case as part of an effort to quote, interfere in the 2024 election when they're only being charged because of who they are. so opening statements underway, these are expected to conclude later today. and the first witness will hear from will be an fbi agent who worked on this case. >> okay. paula, thank you very much for reporting from the courthouse and we will check that joining me now, defense and trial attorney misty marris, also lawyer and jury consultant, linda moreno and cnn legal analyst and former us attorney michael moore. great to have all of you here. okay. so linda, what stands out to you? you about this jury so far well you've got a pretty diverse jury. >> about half of them are gun owners or have relatives in there in their families who own guns. about half of them or more of had a drug addiction touch their families. >> so this is this is important. this is a cross-section of america, and these are the kinds of jurors that are going to figure quite largely in the decision-making don't forget the court's questions to the jurors were in three categories politics, guns, and drugs. and those jurors who had very strong opinionated ideas about any one of those three would not be able to sit in fairness in this interesting. >> okay. so michael obviously the biden family is well-known in delaware according to the washington post quote, there was a female prospective juror who said who they said laughed out loud when she realized what case it was, asked her opinion of hunter biden, she said, quote, not a good one. >> so she was dismissed. >> but the point is, what impact do you think that high profile cases and defendants like this have on juries yeah. >> well, i'm glad to be with all of you. it's no surprise to see the first lady there and that is because she is they're not allowed to support honor, but at, the same time, she's there to make sure that the jurors know and everyone else noticed, frankly they are i connected and high-profile family and the state of that a lot to delaware. this is not a big place it's not the same as trying to case. and in the middle of new york or the texas or other places like that, when we're talking about a relatively small place to be electron that mayors son of a small town somewhere and getting a jury chosen so they do know folks. and people know them. that's cuts both ways. you can have it good. you can have it bad. they may have a good reputation where they help some folks at a bad reputation because they ticked some other people off. but the biden name there and certainly his connections to the state, long connections and things he's done for the state had been good all that said that this case is not a strong case, i think would have never been brought, but for the fact that it's about i mean, this this is not a case that a federal prosecutor would relish to bring them in and they're having to allow what a book, that he wrote to say that he was using drugs. >> but also michael witnesses. i mean, there's also his own memories he was using drugs i mean. well, right. but to say, what did he were has been one appellate court a circuit that's already basically said this is an unconstitutional statute. and so now we're bringing this case to say westgate. well, at some point he may have been an addict. he said in a book he was vatican, but that's like having your insurance policy cancer because you wrote a book about hi, it's and said and they said, well, you must have been fan and didn't tell us at the time that's ridiculous. i mean, this case is being brought on a basis of something that is we got we got a lot of other stuff to do and but-for but for the hoopla and her birth has been raised. this case would not have been brought he did he was he an addict that he subjectively think that did he objectively know that other people say, well, maybe he was, or maybe we saw stuff that at the time he feel the former there's all this kind of thing that he's going to give an appeals court if there's a conviction there and look, i've been an equal opportunity critic of both the trump case and this case. so i'm not i'm not weigh about, but this is not the kind of case it federal prosecutors make there make their bread and butter all. >> let's see. do you agree because obviously we don't want illegal drug users to have guns. and so do you agree that it would not never have been brought against someone else? >> i'm not sure it would never have been brought against somebody else, but michael was hitting on one of the primary factors, the defense is going to raise them are likely to hear about it in opening statements. so prosecutors are going to say this is an easy case. there's a form that you fill out. he lied on the form. he was a drug user. he was a drug addict at the time. look at the form the box is checked. here's what the defense is going to argue. one of the arguments relates to the exact language on that form and whether or not addict was actually defined. and they're going to focus on whether or not hunter biden saw himself as an addict at that time? he had just finished an 11 day rehabilitation program graham, he had been living with a sober partner for a certain period of time. they're going to look into his mind and say, was he an addict? so that's one of the primary defenses. that's going to be raised and we're likely to hear about in an opening statements, the other arguments that the defense is going to raise was that form tampered with there's a form from 2018 that's on file that is the form that was created at the time he bought the gun, but there was an annotation on a copy of that form that was written in 2021. so the defense is going to attack the veracity of that document, wasn't accurate at the time. and then the last one is this gun, the actual gun that a hunter biden had in his possession for two weeks. they're going to talk about chain of custody. it was not tested. there was cocaine residue that was found, but it was not tested for five years. so those are the defense themes. there's going to be these three themes of defense is going to raise in order to get to that idea of reasonable doubt. >> okay. thank you all for the preview. we will we are watching closely today. okay meanwhile, attorney general merrick garland is testifying today in front of the house. judiciary committee. let's listen know that your written testimony will be entered into the record, its entirety. accordingly, we ask that you summarize your testimony. you've done this several times before mr. attorney general you can you can start with the opening statement and i want to point out here at the outset that anytime you need a break, we're going to be here, we're going to have to go to the floor, vote anytime need to break this year team get a hold of our team and we'll be happy to do that you're recognized for your opening statement thank you, chairman. >> jordan ranking member natalie, and distinguished members of this committee since i last appeared before you, the more than 115,000 employees the department of justice have continued their work to fulfill our mission on behalf of the american people, to keep our country safe, to protect civil rights, and to uphold the rule of law just ten days ago, we secured the extradition of one of the lead sicarios or assassins of the sinaloa cartel. one of the most dangerous drug trafficking organizations in the world. just last month, we secured a 27 year prison sentence for a man who attempted to kill nypd officers in a terrorist attack in times square in 2022 in just the first three months of this year, we charge seven members of a hacking group backed by the chinese government. we disrupted a botnet control by russian intelligence services and we seized over $108,000,000.05 hundred thousand barrels of fuel that would otherwise have enabled the government of iran to further support hamas, his below and other terrorist groups we have continued our work to drive down violent crime work that we know is paying off. last year's historic decline in homicides. the largest one year decline in 50 years is continuing. in the first quarter of this year. we have already seen an 18% drop in murders we know we have much more to do we have also remained steadfast in our commitment to the justice department's founding purpose to protect civil rights. we have aggressively investigated and prosecuted hate crimes that victimize individuals and terrorize entire communities and we have brought justice to the perpetrators of those crimes, like the defendant in florida who attacked two black women because of the color of their skin the defendant in michigan, who do face synagogues with swastikas the defendant in missouri, who set fire to a community islamic center. and the defendant in tennessee who committed a series of arsenal targeting catholic methodist and baptist churches we have worked to protect their reproductive freedoms and are protected by federal law. in idaho, we sued to ensure that women in the state would have access to the emergency care guaranteed to them under federal law. we have continued to protect the right to vote and to have that vote counted we successfully challenged or redistricting plan in galveston county, texas. the district court recognized that the plan violated section two of the voting rights act by depriving the county's black and latino voters of an equal opportunity to participate in the political process and elect the candidate of their choice we have continued to prosecute fraud, and we have challenged illegal monopolies that drive up prices for consumers this year, we sued to break up live nation-ticketmaster for its monopoly of the live concert industry. and we sued apple for monopolizing smartphone markets. we have also continued to fulfill our responsibility that underlies all of our work to uphold the rule of law that is why we have worked to combat a worrying spike of threats of violence against those who serve the public those threats have included targeting of members of congress, police officers judges, jurors, election workers, and the justice department's own employees. let me be clear. if anyone threatens public servants with violence, we will hold them accountable, and we will continue to protect our democratic institutions like this one. and to bring to justice all those criminally responsible for the january 16 attack on our democracy as attorney general, i will continue to forcefully defend the independence of the justice department from improper influence or interference of any kind. and i will continue to fiercely protect the integrity of our criminal investigations nothing will deter me from fulfilling my obligation to uphold the rule of law fulfilling that obligation includes ensuring that the justice department respects congress's important role in our democracy that is why we have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committee gets responses to its legitimate requests for information that is why i have provided the committee with special counsel hur's report by the special counsel testified for more than five hours, and why we have gone beyond precedent to provide the committee with the transcripts of the special counsel's interview with a precedent. but we have made clear that we will not provide audio recordings from which to transcripts that you already have. were created releasing the audio which she'll cooperation with a department in future investigations and it could influence witnesses, answers, if they thought the audio of their law enforcement interviews would be broadcast to congress and the public i'm response certain members of this committee and the oversight committee are seeking contempt as a means of obtaining four no legitimate purpose sensitive law enforcement information that could harm the integrity of future investigations this effort is only the most recent in a long line of attacks on the justice department's work. it comes alongside threats to the fund particular department investigations. most recent, the special counsel's prosecution of the former president it comes alongside false claims that a jury verdict in a state trial by at brought by a local district attorney was somehow controlled by the justice department that conspiracy theory is an attack on the judicial process itself. it comes as individual career agents and prosecutors have been singled out just for doing their jobs. it comes as baseless and extremely dangerous, false. so its are being spread about the fbi's law enforcement operations and it comes at a time when we are seeing heinous threats of violence being directed at the justice department's career civil servants these repeated attacks on the justice department are unprecedented and they are unfounded these attacks have not. and they will not influence our decision-making i view contempt as a serious matter but i will not jeopardize the ability of our prosecutors and agents to do their jobs effectively in future investigations i will not be intimidated. and the justice department will not be intimidated. we will continue to work, do our jobs free from political influence and we will not back down from defending democracy i look forward to your questions thank you, mr. attorney general, we will now proceed under the five-minute rule with questions. >> the gentleman from florida is recognized, chairman. gentlemen from the ranking members have sent me unanimously unanimous consent requests that have to happen right now. no well, go ahead ms chair, there's an allegation made no letter yesterday suggesting that the f fbi was somehow involved on january 6, this is ludicrous and you know, it's ludicrous because witnesses are is there a unanimous consent request? is not a proper unanimous consent. consent request. ask unanimous consent, enter it into the record. >> an excerpt from the transfer transcript of the committees interview with steve d'antuono the former leader, the fbi's washington field office. that objection clearly refutes characterizations that the fbi was involved in inciting violence in january without objection, the gentleman from me ask unanimous consent to enter into the record and exit from the special agent in charge of the fbi boston field office, in which he explains that conspiracies about the fbi coaston and capitol insurrection are false and concerning. that objection. >> and finally, i ask unanimous consent to enter an excerpt from fbi director race testimony before the committee. >> before this committee last july, where he states, quote i will say this notion that somehow the violence that the capital on january 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by fbi sources and agents is ludicrous. and it's this disservice to our brave, hardworking, dedicated metadata objects on squad that objection, gentleman four is recognized for five minutes attorney general, you've told us that it's a dangerous conspiracy theory to allege that the department of justice is communicating with these state and local prosecutions against trump. you can clear it all up for us right now. will the department of justice provide to the committee all documents, all correspondence between the department and alvin bragg's office and fani willis also office and letitia james the offices you're referring to are independent offices of state. >> i get that. i get that day. the question is, why not? you will provide all of your documents in correspondence. that's the question. it's i don't need a history lesson well i'm gonna say again, we do not control those offices. they make their the questions indicate with them not whether you control them. do you communicate with them and we provide this committee make a request. >> we will refer it to our office of legislative. here's the thing they come in here and you lodge this attack that it's a conspiracy theory, that there is clear ordinate id lawfare against trump. >> and then when we say fine, just give us the documents, give us the correspondence. and then if it's a conspiracy theory that will be evident. but when you say, well, we'll take your request and then we'll sort of work it through the doj's accommodation process. then you're actually advancing the very dangerous conspiracy theory that you're you're concerned about. >> now, you're, you were a judge once nominated the highest court in our country. when you were a judge, i'm just curious. >> did you ever make political donations to partisan candidates? >> no. no. and you didn't because that would create the potential appear appearance of impropriety. >> i didn't because there's a federal rule. oh, are in federal judges for making contributions. right. but but under that same theory of attacks on the judicial process, like shouldn't someone be owed like a jury of their peers and a judge that's non-biased rather than getting a judge from your political opponents donor file. >> i'm well aware that you're not asking a hypothetical. you're asking me to comment and a verdict jury verdict in a another jurisdiction which has to be respected. i won't comment on it. that case is still ongoing. the defense attorney i hadn't asked you about the verdict yet. >> we're getting there. i was i was talking to about the judge and so let me ask you this question about your time as a judge. was there ever a time when you were a judge when you had a family member who was personally profiting off of the notoriety of a case that was before your court, like i'm going to say again very clear. you're asking me to comment on a case and another juror hold the hoa, mr. >> attorney general, did you ever have a family member profit off of the notoriety of any case that you sat on, say again, your answer, no. you're asking me to comment on a case currently. well, it seems you're connecting the dots, mr. attorney general, i'm just asking you, it's to a general principle, but you are aware the judge merchan's daughter was profiting off of this prosecution. you are aware that that creates the appearance of impropriety. you know, the very reason there's a federal rule against judges giving donations because because it is the very attack on the judicial process that we're concerned about. >> i'm sorry, i don't agree with anything you just said, but i'm not going to comment on. okay. so you won't comment on it, mr. >> attorney general, but you no problem dispatching matthew colangelo's whose matthew collapse is false? i did not dispatch matthew colangelo's matthew matthew potential became the assistant attorney general at the very beginning of the biden administration. >> without having been senate confirmed, goes and gets the senior role at the doj and then after i believe it's gupta replaces colangelo's glandular, makes this remarkable downstream career journey from the us department of justice in washington, dc, and then pops up and alvin bragg's office to go get trump and you're saying that's just a that's just a career choice that was made. that has nothing to do with the lawfare coordinated by saying it's false. >> i did not dispatch mr. colangelo's anywhere well, how do you know how he ended up there? i assume he spoke, applied for a job there and got the job, but you know what tell you, i had nothing to do with well, you might not have had anything to do with it, but we've got this contemporaneous evidence and mr. pomeranz is book so pomerantz writes this book, which i'm sure you're aware of where he says, we put together the legal eagles to get trump. we've got all these folks together and we assemble them for that purpose. and so when when we on the judiciary committee think about attacks on the judicial process our concern is that the facts and the law aren't being followed. a target is acquired here, trump, and then you assemble the legal talent from doj, mr. pomerantz, and he bring everybody into getting i really meanwhile, the judge is making money on it. a judge's make get muddy on the judge's families making money on it for stuff that you yourself wouldn't do you know, no one's going to buy this. no one's going to believe it. it's going to create great disruption. and i am saddened by because like you, i have given my life to the law. i care deeply about the law and i think that the law fair. we've seen against president trump will do the great damage well beyond our time in public service. i see my time is expired. uh, you back ranking member is recognized for five minutes. you, mr. chairman. ms turning general, do you want to respond to anything and mr. gates, his tirade? >> i think everything he was talking about was a case in another jurisdiction an independent prosecutor, mr. pomerantz worked for that independent prosecutor. i don't all mr. pomerantz, i don't know what's in his book, but these are decisions, made in another office independent that the justice department. >> thank you, mr. chairman, general, last week, as we all know, a jury of his peers convicted former president trump on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records is the first degree the case was brought by the manhattan da, so it is a state case, not a federal case. i shouldn't have to ask you this, mr. attorney general. but since the majority seems to be confused, can you please explain the difference between a state case and a federal case? >> yes. the man manhattan manhattan district attorney has jurisdiction over cases involving new york state law a completely independent of the justice department, which has jurisdiction over or cases involving federal law. we do not control the matan manhattan district attorney. manhattan district attorney does not report to us. the manhattan district attorney makes its own decisions about cases that he wants to bring under his state law thank you. >> my republican colleagues seem to believe the department of justice is secretly coordinated. and now successful prosecution of former president trump in new york. is there any truth to this allegation? and what is your response to this allegation? >> the case in new york has brought by the manhattan district attorney independently on his own volition as own determination of what was what he believed was a violation of state law mr. any general two weeks ago, this committee took the extraordinary step of holding you in contempt. i want to make some things clear for the record. since 2022, when the chairman took over the committee the department of justice has produced over 92,000 pages of documents in may, 25 employees available for interviews. we've run the numbers. this is more than double the number of documents. and exponentially more witnesses. and then the trump administration's department of justice produced to this committee in four years and with respect to the actual audio recording sought by the majority the department of justice has produced full and complete transcripts of the conversations memorialized by these recordings. is that correct? >> it is there's been an allegation that the transcripts might have been altered in some way. >> is there any truth to that allegation? >> there's no allegation truth to that senior career official an apartment in a declaration he filed under oath stated that he had compared the audio to the transcript and that it is an accurate transcript is accurate with the exceptions of us and eyes and reputations of words like i and, and and he consulted with mr hur, the special counsel, and with the fbi agents in the room, who agreed that the who created the transcript and who agreed that it was an accurate transcript? >> thank you one more question. >> mr. attorney general, throughout the hundred 18th congress, republicans have made bogus allegations, claiming that the justice department has been weaponized. >> most recently, there was an allegation that the fbi was authorized to quote, kill the former president. what impact does this type of rhetoric cabin the career prosecutors and law enforcement agents at the department of justice this is dangerous. >> it raises the threats of violence against prosecutors and career agents the allegation is false as the fbi has explained, the document that's being discussed is our standard use of force protocol, which is a limitation on the use of force and which is routinely part of the package for search warrants and was part of the package for the search of president biden's home as well so in president and former president trump alleges that this was an assassination attempt against him he is not telling the truth either knowingly or as is often the case with them unknowingly i'm just saying that the allegation is not true. this is our standard use of force policy which limits the use of force at agents can use it is used just as a routine matter and searches that was a court authorized search. and accompanied that package as it routinely does. >> thank you. so in other words, when former president trump, listening, they're two attorney general merrick garland defending his work as well as the other employees of the department of 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listen, keeping it propped open indefinitely but it is a lower number than your administration is tolerated so far. yet, for the last three years, three-and-a-half years the president's maintained that he has no such authority. so what's changed other than were five months before the election i'm going to have to refer you to the department of homeland security, which is response i smell for the border issues. i would say that the best way to protect the border was to pass the bipartisan legislation that was possible. >> what the bipartisan flation would've forbidden future presidents from using that very authority gentleman side legal entries reached 4,000 a day, so this time has turned almost time has expired they've called boats on the floor. i think we'll try to do a couple more questions, then we'll break for about approximately 15 minutes. mr. training general, and then we'll be back. turnout recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. >> thank you, mr. jordan. thank you for your tennis are today, general garland am perplexed. >> you like to ask you a few questions. they've raised the fact that this is the first time that there's been a prosecution of president is gone after allegedly gone after his opponent has there ever been another time in american history went up? president was involved in an insurrection trying to overthrow the government of the united states of america. than january 6 the answer is no, but i do not intend to comment on the charges in the prosecution of the former president any more than i would comment on mr. hur's report, i i just i'm not going to comment on matters that are before courts. thank you it was said to my quoted that one of the reasons that mr. there's no indictment of president biden on records, classified records. >> was because he was considered a sympathetic character in the trump case. did anybody consider him a sympathetic character? >> again, i'm going to fall back on my respect for the court process on the fact that cases are in. i got under judges and i'm just not going to i just can't comment. there's to jordan and his opening comments commented on the execution of a search warrant and said it was different in all these different ways. >> how many classified documents were found pursuant to that search warrant and how many times that there had been an attempt to get those classified documents and they'd been refused to return so i don't know. >> i don't have in my head the number that's all on the public record including the number of times that efforts were made to obtain through legal process to dock this whole hearing is about weaponization of the justice department in the suggestion that there was somehow your department was involved in the prosecution of donald trump and the state court in new york as far as weaponization of the department goes did the justice department indict senator menendez that's a matter of public record. yes. >> and he's a democrat, indy i'm assuming the answer is yes. >> and henry cuellar, justice department indicted him. >> he's a democrat to its amount, matter of public record so you've prosecuted democrats as we speak, hunter biden, who is a son of the president, is under trial in delaware and so you have a weaponized the justice department in terms of hiding and protecting democrats menendez cuellar and hunter biden that the justice department follows the facts and the law the prosecutor like cases alike, and we make decisions about different cases in different ways. we do not allow the political party or the ethnicity, or the religion, or the race, or the wealth, or the influence of someone we're investigating to make a difference in our urging decisions. >> and notice mr. gates, who took you on first is not here now. and that's unfortunate because he is living testament to the fact direct, evidence that you have not weaponized the justice department. he was investigated for sex trafficking and while many expected a prosecution, you chose not to prosecute this very active republican is that true? you did not prosecute him? >> i'm sorry, i'm not i'm not sure how what is in the public record and what's not. so i'm just not going to comment on that violent crime in urban areas is decreasing and i thank you for that. >> unfortunately, memphis is not one of the cities where we've seen violent crime being reduced but we're working on it it's the second city to join the violent crime initiative, which increases federal resources and specific communities and i thank you for getting the year department involved in trying to reduce the murders and violent crime in our city my city resources have been helpful based on my conversations with our us attorney in our district attorney i don't want thank you for that. can you share some of the department successes and tackling violent crime yes. >> as i said in my opening i want to be clear. these are not the justice department's successes because these are the countries successes. success in fighting violent crime relies on our partnership with state and local law enforcement, which really faced violent crime. the most directly. we operate in support of them and in our ability to bring technological tools and and statutes to the fight that they may not have available. >> i'm about my time's almost up. i just want to mention one thing i read yesterday that the chairman of the committee wants to reduce funding to the justice department and particularly certain certain areas that would be defunding the justice department and defunding the opportunity to go after reducing violent crime. and i'm shocked you back the balance of my time i'd tell me excuse me, gentlemen, yields back. >> mr. trenchev. we're gonna take a break now the boats have been going on for a while on the floor. we will be back in, give or take if 15 minutes, more or less with that, the committee will stand in recess okay. >> you have been listening to a very feisty house judiciary committee. there 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back on the international criminal court's attempts to potentially issue arrest warrants for top israeli officials, including israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. now i didn't in this interview was asked point point-blank, whether he believes israel has committed war crimes. and he said, quote the answer is, it's uncertain and has been investigated by the israelis themselves. the icc is something that we don't we don't recognize. he went on to but one thing is certain the people in gaza, the palestinians have such suffered greatly for lack of food, water, medicine et cetera. and a lot of innocent people have been killed. but it is, and a lot of it has to do not just with israelis, but what hamas is doing israel as we speak, hamas is intimidating that population. this is noteworthy of courses the administration has increasingly expressed concern about the way israel has conducted its war. and just days ago, president biden, presenting that potential proposal to put an end to the fighting and secure the release of hostages okay, so let's go back and out to the executive order that the president we understand plans to sign it cracks down on illegal immigration the timing of this, of course, makes it hard to see it as anything but a political move. >> what is the white house say about it? >> well, the white house so far is not offered any specific details, but sources who have been briefed on the expected executive order say that president biden is planning to announce this sweeping executive action that would effectively shut down the border for those migrants crossing illegally. trial plane to seek asylum when a certain daily limit of crossings is reached. now, those numbers that sources have told us is expected to have a daily limit of 2,500 apprehensions to put that into person just yesterday, there were about 3,500 daily encounters. so this essentially could potentially go into effect right away. now the expected executive order is expected to exempt on a companies children a move that is concerning to some immigration advocates as they are worried that it could encourage families to send their children's at the southern border by themselves, biden and also would be trying to