About the gun and the crew. Lets watch. Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office. First and foremost, id like to offer condolences to the hutchins family, a speedy recovery to mr. Souza and the concern of the safety of men and women in the field industry. At october 21, 2 48 p. M. , we were dispatched to the ranch after a 911 call advising two people were shot on the movie set. It was later determined that Halyna Hutchins, the director and joel souza, the director had been shot while rehearsing a scene on the movie rust. It was determined that actor producer alec baldwin was the person that fired the weapon. We identified two other people that handled and or inspected the loaded firearm prior to baldwin firing the weapon. These two individuals are armor Hannah Gutierrez and assistant director david halls. All three individuals have been cooperative in the investigation and have provided statements. Over the last few days, our team has been working diligently to conduct interviews, execute search warrants and collect and process evidence from the scene. During this process, we determined that there were limited amounts of movie set staff present in the area where the actual incident took place. Although there were approximately 100 people on set. Through the execution of search warrants, we selected about 600 items of evidence. These include but not limited to three firearms. Approximately 500 rounds of ammunition and several pieces of clothing and accessories. We believe that we have in our possession the firearm that was fired by mr. Baldwin. This is a firearm we believe discharged the bullet. We also believe that we have the spent shell casing from the bullet that was fired from the gun. The actual lead projective that was fired haas been recovered from the shoulder of mr. Souza. The projectile was recovered by medical personnel where he was being treated and turned over to the Sheriffs Office for evidence. We regard this spent casing and recovered projective to be the live round that was fired from the revolver by mr. Baldwin. We have recovered what we believe to be possible additional live rounds on set. All the previous mention items along with other items of evidence will be submitted to the Fbi Crime Lab in quantico, virginia for analysis. Were working thoroughly to gather the facts of the investigation, continue interviews and further analyze the and process the evidence. I want to ensure the victims, their families and the public that we are conducting a thorough and objective investigation. In reference to possible charges, its too early in the investigation to comment on charges at this point. If the sheriff determine as crime has occurred and probable cause exists, an arrest will be made and charges will be filed. Otherwise, well complete our investigation and forward the evidence to the District Attorney for review. Id like to thank our Investigations Division for all of their hard work and diligence in this case, the Santa Fe County ems and the local fbi office for their support and assistance in this case. Also the District Attorneys office staff that has been working side by side with us. Id like to introduce judicial attorney, mary alweis. Good morning. Im the official judicial District Attorney which my jurisdiction includes Santa Fe County. I echo the sentiments of sheriff mendoza and want to send my condolences to the family and friends of this tight knit community. I also want to thank the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Department for actively investigating this incident. Our office appreciates your hard work and together we will ensure that this investigation is held to the highest standards. I speak to the prosecutorial perspective here. I must emphasis that a complete and thorough investigation is critical to d. A. Review. We take the corroborated facts and evidence and connect it to new mexico law. Were not at that juncture yet. If the facts and evidence and law support changes, i will initiate prosecution at that time. Im a prosecuted that was elected because i dont make rash decisions and i dont rush to judgment. I rely on facts supported by evidence, cooperatives and credible witnesses and i cannot stress the importance of allowing the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office to continue with their investigation that was both serious and complex. So at this point well open it up to questions. Based on the witness interviews that you have done, can you tell us what you learned about the live ammunition on the set and how it made its way to the gun. I wont comment on how they get there. We suspect theyre there. That will be determined when testing is done by the crime lab. How did you inspect this gun and not notice there was a live round in it . Thats what were trying to determine. The people that inspected or handled the firearm when it was loaded before it got to mr. Baldwin were interviewing. Theres follow up questions that we need to do. Theres further investigation, further interviews and well try to determine exactly how that happened and if they should have known there was a live round in the firearm. [question inaudible] no, i said there was a total of 500 rounds of ammunition. That is a mix of blanks, dummy rounds and what were suspecting live rounds. A bullet was found in the directors shoulder that was recovered in the hospital. We know it was a led projectile. Its to be determined by the ballistic analysis by the Fbi Crime Lab what the weight of the bull let is. Maybe whether or not it was fired from that actual firearm. It will be the riflings and things tested and compared. So theres a lot of testing that needs to be done to ensure that that projectile left that firearm. Thats what we suspect. Sheriff, as a man that pulled the trigger and a producer on the movie, does alex baldwin face the potential of criminal charges . That may be a question better answered by the District Attorney. All options are on the table at this point. Im not commenting on charges, whether theyll be filed or not or on whom. So the answer is, we cannot answer that question yet until we compete a more thorough investigation. [question inaudible] no one has been ruled out at this point. Is alec baldwin considered a person of interest right now . Thats you. Hes obviously the person that fired the weapon. So were going to continue interviewing and getting the facts of his statements and the evidence and the case and possible witnesses or anybody that has any information. So right now he is an active part of this investigation. Is he likely to be reinterviewed . We hope so. As of right now, everybody is cooperating with statements and interviews. You mentioned this is an ongoing investigation. From your department, what does that mean specifically . What else do you have to do . So basically theres a lot of interviews that have to be done. Weve determined that there were a limited amount of people or movie staff that were actually in the vicinity of the incident. So theres also approximately 90 people on the movie set itself, a lot of interviews that need to be done still in this case. Thats going to be important. Theres a lot of facts that are floating around. I wouldnt say facts. Maybe facts and rumors floating around and its our job to figure out if theyre facts or rumors. [question inaudible] so we would consider the live round a bullet live because it did fire from the weapon and obviously caused the death of mrs. Hutchins and injured mr. Souza. How much will you take into account the previous accusations of unsafe practices and negligence on other sets . We know you will for this sit. But theres reports of negligence on other sets. How much will you take that into account . Thats up to the District Attorney to determine how much that will weigh. We will follow up on those statements made, that there were other incidents. We want to speak to anybody that has any information in reference to safety on other sets or whether there were other issues and we could encourage to call the sheriff with any information that they may have so we can get a good idea what the totality of the circumstances are on this set and what is happening in the industry. [question inaudible] that is something that will play into our legal analysis when we get the completed investigation from the Sheriffs Department. Could play to whether charges get filed or not. [question inaudible] can you speak broadly to when it comes to a accidental shooting and what your office says when we get to that point . Yes, when we get to that point, we will speak to it. I dont know that were at that point yet. Again, we cant say that it was negligence by whom, how many people were involved. We cant say that with any certainty at this point. So when we get to that point, yes, i will speak to that. [question inaudible] i will talk in reference to the caliber of the actual weapon that was fired by mr. Baldwin. That firearm was a long colt 45 revolver. [question inaudible] was other ammunition in the gun that we believe was fired by mr. Baldwin. Were those live rounds . The other live bullets in any other guns . Including what was recovered. As of right now, there were three firearms located on the set within close proximity to the incident. Were still going to determine, well send the firearm fired by mr. Baldwin to the crime lab and do a functionality test. Obviously it fired a live round. The other weapon is a singleaction 45 revolver. That one looks like theres some modification to the cylinder and may not be functioning. That will be determined by the crime lab. The other firearm is a plastic nonfunctioning revolver. Can you talk about tensions on the set . Six hours before the accident and people drinking or crew members drinking the night before, lacks conditions. Can you talk about that and specifically was there tension on the set . I wont talk about specifics. We are aware of those rumors or those statements that have been made and well do the best to track those down. Sheriff, can you confirm the camera was rolling when the shot was fired . There was a search warrant issued in reference to any camera footage. There was footage but i can say theres no footage of the incident. How much responsibility does alec baldwin have as a producer and how does this influence the execution of the charges . Once we gather all the statements of fact, once we do the interviews, that will be weighed by the District Attorney to see what weight that will give in making charges. [question inaudible] not at this time. Can you give us an update on alec baldwin and the view of how hes been so far . Generally hes been cooperative in this investigation. Can you describe his demeanor . I wont comment on my perception of his demeanor. For clarity, was it a live round or suspected live round . Ill say until its prove by the crime lab, its a suspended live round but it did fire from the weapon and did cause injury. So that would lead us to believe its a live round. [question inaudible] your thought about the use of real weapons on the set. Obviously i think the industry has had a record recently of being safe. I think theres some complacency on this set and some safety issues that need to be addressed by the industry and the possibly the state of new mexico. Ill leave that up to the industry and the state to determine what that will be. Have you ever covered a case are there cases like this in Santa Fe County where you had somebody fire a gun, did it clearly accidentally, they thought it was a cold gun but other people loaded the gun and could be held liable . Any kind of precedent for a case like this in your county . No, theres no precedent. I mean, its a tricky legal battle. It is a very complex case. It will require lots of Legal Research and analysis and review. Thats what my team is here for. That said, again, we dont know how that will play in until we get that complete investigation. Sheriff, was the projectile taken from the directors shoulder, is that the same projectile that killed Halyna Hutchins . We will leave that up to the office of medical investigator to determine. Its apparently the same round. Are you investigating whether people were recreationally shooting . Were investigating whether that is true. I would encourage anybody that has any information on a firearm discharged away from the movie set for practice or for whatever reason to contact the Sheriffs Office. What do you think happened here . You said two of the three guns appeared to be nonfunctioning. What do you think i think the facts are clear. A weapon was handed to mr. Baldwin. The weapon is functional and fired a live round killing mrs. Hutchins and injuring mr. Souza. [inaudible question]. We know there was a live round on set. We suspected there were other live rounds. Thats up to the testing. Right now were going to determine why they were there because they shouldnt have been there. [question inaudible] hes been cooperative. Im not sure of his whereabouts. [question inaudible] thats still being investigated. Were there multiple rounds [question inaudible] based on what i said, there were several individuals that need to be interviewed. From the interviews come new information and we need to track down. I dont want a timeline on it. I want everybody to know that were working diligently, our Investigative Team is. Theres no timeline. We want all the facts, all the statements and present it to the District Attorneys office for review. [question inaudible] we have. [question inaudible] as questions come up, other information comes to light, there may be follow up interviews. So i would suspect that we would want to reinterview them. You said there was a small number of people inside the area where this happened. [question inaudible] there was a small number of people within the set area where the incident took place. Those people have been interviewed. Im talking about 100 people on scene in different areas. So those people that were in close proximity to the incident, theyve been interviewed. Just for clarity, were there other live rounds in this chamber . Not that were aware of. The sheriff used the world complacency on the set. [question inaudible] im not going to answer hypotheticals today. Ill say theres a bridge and it will take many more facts, corroborated facts before we can get to the criminal negligence standard. Theyre gathering that as we speak. [question inaudible] i cant say that without specifically legally researching that. My offthecuff answer is no. For the sheriffs, your experience with firearms, sheriff, what is your view of such complacency on the set of a movie . Any times firearms are involved, the safety is paramount. Ill say that. Anybody knows that. Any time a firearm is around, safety is paramount. [question inaudible] i dont let my emotions get involved, this is an investigation. We rely on the facts. You said a small number of people were in the room. What is a small number . The information that i received from the detectives, there were 16 people in the vicinity of where the incident took place. Thanks for all your questions. I appreciate it. Thats all were taking today. Unle the da would like were good. Thank you. Thank you. Harris that was a lot of questions. The answers were surprising. We finally got a number of people there at the end that might have been closest to the scene as alec baldwin fired the weapon which killed Halyna Hutchins, the 42yearold director on the rust movie set. A fragment of the bullet casing we know from sheriff mendoza is what hit the director of the film, joel souza in the shoulder. Theyve retrieved that. Now theyre putting together the bullet, the gun and all of that. The big question now is, how many people were on the set, who knew what when and could this have been prevented . At first he said 100 people. Then 90 and then back to 100 people. There were a lot of people on the set. We know 16 of them are close too what well call a shooting action so we dont know from our own reporter, jonathan hunt. Well, is complacency a crime . We dont know what were looking at. Im harris faulkner. Youre watching outnumbered. This is emily and kayleigh. Emily, there were some things that popped. 500 round of ammunition, a mix of, you know, live ammunition, blanks, dummies. We dont know how many. Your take. Emily heres what viewers need to understand. Safety is no accident. So lets just take that general rule and lets apply it here. Everyone is talking about the negligence standards and criminal charges and the like. If you knew or should have none that something occurred that is civil negligence. If you have a reckless disregard for life, have a great risk for Bodily Injury or death, thats when youre criminally liable. So when we talk about finding live rounds on set, we heard them talk about that, they found live rounds on set, that sun acceptable. He keeps referencing the fact that the fbi was brought in and the confirmation of such will occur at quantico. He discussed the events moving forward. That is standard operating procedure. The sheriff says they will keep investigating the scene and keep investigating what happened. If they if it rises to the level that probable cause exists for a crime that has occurred, they determined such, they will make an arrest and charges will be filed. Otherwise, they will submit it to the d. A. Thats what always happens and the d. A. Is who determines what charges they will be filing, what crimes they believe occurred. When the fbi is brought in, its brought in because of jurisdiction or resources. Here theyre brought in because of resources. New mexico is making a position that theyre doing everything under their purview. They have cooperation of other agencies to make sure its as thorough and accurate as possible. I want everyone to think back, this is a case that i brought up before. When a camera assistant died on set, the assistant director served time in prison for Involuntary Manslaughter and that was the director with ten years of probation. Because of that absolute reckless disregard standard that i mentioned earlier. What is interesting there and why i bring it in here is because there were shoe complaints on the set of the reckless disregard, so many safety protocols that were ignored that were under the purview of the director and that they then proved that it led to that camera assistants death. So we have the sheriff sayinger with aware of the safety complaints that occurred, were aware of allegations of Alcohol Consumption the night before. Again, we recovered live rounds. Wait for confirmation on that. If they knew a live round was in that gun, if the assistant director was negligent and allowed the live rounds on set by the armor, by any kind of lack of protocol and safety, thats when we can expect charges to be filed. Harris i want to big deeper from what we heard. Were going to work on the facts that sheriff mendoza of Santa Fe County and the prosecutor just gave us. There was a lot to get to. Something that emily just talked about reminds me i dont know if our team has the 911 call but when that assist about the director when the prop people were mentioned and a 911 call, it starts to your point, emily, of there were problems on that set before this happened. So my big question is who is at the top of the food chain here . Is it alec baldwin or somebody else . How does it work . If safety is always a thing with gun and you heard the sheriff say that, its always a thing, did alec baldwin there were potential live rounds among the ammunition that they found . Was there even a possibility of this happening and was he aware of it . There was a possibility. Look, emily lied out the law beautifully, knew or should have known. Let me give you alleged facts. These are facts that would be considered. One is that a stunt double discharge add prop weapon that he was told was a cold weapon. This happened less than a week before. There was complacency on this set. Ian hudson that film add death scene on the very same set, he said this. He said when the rounds were released, these were blanks fired at him, he said behind him the crew was in direct line of fire and they had shields. Again, these were blanks. When they shot at me, i did feel the blanks hitting my face and body and i would feel the wind from the shotgun. It was heavy and strong and talk to my fellow cast. We all agreed how scary it was, how real it was. He went on to say, remember the last time this happened was the 1993 death of an actor to a problem weapon. He said they compared that set and how it felt on that set to this 1993 harris talking among themselves. Yes. Harris and of the 16 that were closest to what was going on and they feel like they talked to all 16 at this point according to the sheriff, then theyve got what you just described. That is a big potential chunk of putting this puzzle together. If people can talk in that much detail, theres some expertise in that setting. Kayleigh comparing the death of brandon lee. Harris that is interesting. You mentioned complacency. The sheriff said complacency on the set is something that state and industry should look at. From what he knows, there was complacency. Weve got that 911 call. Remember, the script supervisor was placing the blame on the films assistant director in the 911 call. Lets listen. Harris hes supposed to check the gun. Hes supposed to do that. Ill tell you i dont know how this works. And Dagen Mcdowell and guy benson are here. I want to bring in our family for an hour. But you know, i would imagine if you had been around movie sets as much as alec bald when and so on and so forth, there might be someone that would say if youre handling a weapon, you too need to know a quick two, threesecond check of whether or not theres a bullet in that barrel. You need to know if theres a round of any kind it in regardless of what you may know about any round or any kind in it. You need to know theres not one. If youre sitting on the stump of a church, at the set, and youre going to point the gun at the camera and theres people around not with childs, what are your thoughts about this, dagen . This is something that you learn as a child from friends and family when youre taught how to handle a gun and when youre taught gun safety. Do you always check the weapon to make sure its not loaded. Again, on a movie set, theres emily can weighin on this. There should be a greater expectation for alec baldwin because hes not just an actor on the film. Hes a producer, number 1. A cold gun means theres not even a harris theres nothing in it. Nothing in it. Not even a blank in the gun. The biggest question is how did live ammo wind up on this set, who brought it on to the set and who knew about it and who allowed it. One thing i found interesting from the sheriff that of the five rounds of ammo, they discovered blanks, which is powder, no lead, they discovered dummy rounds, which is has its meant to look like a bullet, its no powder and lead traditionally and then actual what they believe to be live rounds. There was also of the three firearms picked up, there was also a plastic nonfunctioning revolver. That is a prop gun. Any reference to the weapon that alec baldwin discharged is not a prop. Its an actual gun. A prop is something that has no ability of firing a blank or an actual live round. But its interesting to know that theres a plastic nonfunctioning revolver involved. Harris why did they hand him that . We wont know as he sat on the movie set. The chain of responsibility traditionally, its the armorer who hands the actor or actress the gun. And why this is something clearly theyre investigating. Why did the assistant director, hall, grab the gun off a cart. Why. We should point out this is a low budget production. They were under the gun harris which fuels the complaints. It was under the gun. The union camera crew had walked off the set earlier that day. They were trying to cut costs, trying to get the day in. Again, therein lies the recklessness that was bred. We can say its recklessness. Its beyond complacency. Because somebody is dead. Harris guy, i want to come to you. Im not going to profess to know what we dont know. I wont fill in the blanks about the weapon because he wasnt all that specific. He said and f. Lee pieta. Its a historical weapon and beautiful guns. Based on what dagen said, theres no way that you can get an f. Lee pieta confused with a problem gun unless theyre dynamic replicas of one another. Its not been described this way. Just the thought of what dagen just laid out, how different these would look, feel and require. There was a live round in it. My assumption here and we dont want to assume much, is that alec baldwin believed entirely that it was a gun that if he pulled the trigger, there would not be a real round flying out. Thats what happened and someone is dead. We heard from the two lawyers. Near really experts on the law. Im not. As a law person, the world negligence immediately came to my mind as soon as i heard some of the initial details about this story. How on earth is it possible for that type of catastrophic lethal mistake to happen on a film set. I understand it was a stressful day based on the walkout. There were some simmering tensions from the 911 call. Perhaps people had been drinking the night before. We heard about those rumors. Maybe not everyone is at the top of their game. Nevertheless, how are there any live rounds on set whatsoever when there were real guns on set . I dont think listening to all of those questions and all of the answers from the sheriff and the District Attorney, i didnt learn a lot of information. The one piece that really did stick out to me is that at least based on the sheriffs framing of it, this was not just one real bullet. They believed there were multiple live rounds, multiple bullets on set. How on earth was that possible. Harris humans made that possible. Guns down walk to the set with bullets. We dont know which one. Now we know they had 100 people on the set in conditions where there was some questionable things going on. So thats those interviews will take some time, i would imagine. Real quickly and then we want to move on. I want your final thought. Just a final thought that the sheriff referred to the producer as Actor Alec Baldwin and producer. Theyre looking as him as more when he received the gun. Harris so much coming out of santa fe new mexico today where a woman died on the movie set of rust. The irony, there was trust that they were passing around apparently. But with a gun that was potentially loaded with a live weapon. I say potential because we have to wait for the crime lab to figure that out. But the sheriff seemed to be confident of it. Halyna hutchins is dead. The director, joel souza, hes recovering. Well cover more on the story if it happens. I want to get to the Senate Judiciary hearing on capitol hill where the nations top Law Enforcement officer, the attorney general, Merrick Garland has been in the hot seat for hours and its not getting any easier. Were watching live senator ben sasse. A few moments ago, senator tom cotton of the great state of arkansas lit up the room. Watch this. Lets turn to your outrageous directive sicking the feds on parents at School Boards across america. When you crafted that october 4 memo, did you consult with Senior Leader at at the fbi . My understanding was that the memo or the idea of the memo had been discussed. Anyone at the fbi express any doubt or disagreement or hesitation with your decision to issue that memo . No one expressed that to me. No one . To me, no one expressed that to me, no. A lot of them have contacted us and said they did. Im sorry . A lot of fbi contacted me and said that they opposed this decision. I doubt they spoke to me about it. I didnt speak to any one. All right. Judge, youve repeatedly dissembled this morning about that directive. For instance, about the National Security decision. Chuck grassley asked you a simple question why youd would you sick the National Security division of the Justice Department on parents. John cornyn asked you the same thing. You said it wasnt in your october 4 memorandum. It was in a press release from your office here in front of me. You were going to credit a task force that includes the National Security division. What on earth do the National Security division have to do with parents expressing disagreements at School Boards . Nothing in this memorandum or any memorandum is about parents expressing disagreements with their School Boards. The memorandum makes clear that parents are entitled and protected by the First Amendment to have vigorous debates. We dont the Justice Department is not interested in that question at all. Okay. So even in that case, what is the National Security division, judge . These are the people that are supposed to be chasing jihadists and chinese spies. What does that have to do with parents at School Boards . This is not about parents at School Boards. Its about threats of violence. Let me turn to that because youve said that phrase repeatedly throughout the morning. Threats violence and threats of violence. Weve heard it a dozen times this morning. As senator lee pointed out, the very first line in your october 4 memorandum refers to harassment and intimidation. Why do you continue to tell this committee that youre talking about threats and threats of violence when youre memo says harassment and intimidation . I said it involves other types of duct. The statutory definitions of those terms and the constitutional definitions of those terms involve threats solve violence. Lets look at those statutes. Section 223. That statute covers the use of not just telephones by Telecommunications Devices to annoy someone. So are you going to social the fbi on a Parents Group if they post on facebook something the answer to that is no. The provision that i was particularly drawing to his attention was 2261 a, which was to engage i wasnt talking about 2261 a. You mention 2213. Thats what i mentioned. You also told senator klobuchar that this memorandum was about meetings and coordination. What i have in my hand here that ill submit to the record, a letter from one of your u. S. Attorneys to all of the county attorneys, to the attorney general, to all sheriffs, to the School Board Association of this state in which he talks about federal investigation and prosecution. Its not about meetings. Its about federal investigation and prosecution. Did you direct your u. S. Attorneys to issue such a letter . I have not seen that letter. Its three pages. Three pages of spreadsheet about the federal crimes that a parent could be charged with to include the ones you cited. The main justice make this spreadsheet, judge . I dont have any idea. My memorandum speaks about setting up meetings. Convene meetings judge, weve all read your memorandum. We heard you dissemble about your memorandum. I have showed one of your u. S. Attorneys sending out a letter about federal prosecution investigation and lists in detail the federal statutes. You talked a lot about intimidation and harassment. Have you issued a memorandum like your october 4 medium random about black lives matters riots . In the summer of 2020 a lot of crimes committed. They were under the previous administration. What about this . Its no doubt even though parents at School Boards arent within federal jurisdiction, theres no doubt that federal officials are. You keep saying senators. Have you stated an investigation into the harassment of Kyrsten Sinema in a bathroom because she wont go along with the democratic partys big tax and spend agenda . That is a sitting United States senator being harassed in a bathroom. I dont know if the senator has referred the matter to the Justice Department or not. Youve cited as a basis for that directive the national School Board Associations letter of september 29. Was that directive being prepared before september 29, before the School Board Association letter was issued . I dont believe so. Okay. That answers the question. I already answered that question. You keep citing the School Board Letter and news reports. One of the news reports that you mean is from Loudoun County, virginia. Thats not what i was talking about. You keep citing news reports. Thats the most prominent news report that anyone in america has seen. That refers to scott smith whose 15yearold daughter was raped. She was raped in a bathroom by a boy wearing girls cloths. The Loudoun County school board covered it up because it would have interfered with their transgender policy during pride month. That man, scott smith, because he went to a school board and tried to defend his daughters rights was condemned. Do you apologize to scott smith and his 15yearold daughter, judge . Senator, anyone whos child was raped is the most horrific crime i can imagine and was entitled and protected by the First Amendment to protest to their school board about this. He was cited by the School Board Association as a domestic terrorist. We know that letter and those reports were the basis no, senator that is wrong. This is shameful. This testimony, your directive, your performance is shameful. Thats not thank god youre not on the supreme court. You should resign in disgrace, judge. Z. General garland im not sure there was a question there. The news reports im talking about are not the news reports in that letter. There were other news reports that everybody here has heard about, subsequent reports that everybody has heard about. Theres nothing in this memorandum and i wish if senators were concerned about this they would quote my words. This memorandum is not about parents being able to object in their School Boards. Theyre protected by the First Amendment. As long as theres no threats of violence, they are completely protected. So parents with object to their School Boards about curriculum, about the treatments of their children, about school policy, all of that is 100 protected by the First Amendment and theres nothing in this memorandum contrary to that. Were only trying to prevent violence against school officials. Harris okay. I want to point out two things. Each senator gets seven minutes. That was more than eight minutes long and it wasry riveting. Youre watching and listening to the man that has so much power in america. Hes the top Law Enforcement officer that went around local officials on the grounds because the school union said to the white house, do more and go after domestic terrorists. Meaning the parents. Direct correlation which they then apologized for, the national School Board Association late last week. Kayleigh, senator tom cotton said you ought to resign in disgrace to the attorney general just now. Kayleigh i think hes exactly right. Tom cotton hit the nail on the head when he brought up scott smith. The boy in that case, we dont know his name. But the boy in a skirt that at the time was alleged sexually assaulted that young girl, scott smiths daughter, the 15yearold in the girls rest room. That boy was found guilty this week. Last week the attorney general of the United States, attorney general of the United States, was asked points blank, what do you make of this case . Its gets ten tons of national attention. He said it sounds like a state case and im not familiar with it. Im sorry. Okay. Its a state case. Hes not looking into it. Fine. Its a stays kate case. Its a state issue. Why is he federalizing, youre serving the police power of the state in one case, federal ideaing what should be a state case . But the other case he hide behind the Sexual Assault of a 15yearold but he hides. Harris real quick, this just round of questioning. Were following this hearing and we promise you were isolating those moments for you. You need to watch this. This is the attorney general for the United States. When senator cotton says its a good thing youre not on the supreme court, hes referencing that this was obamas pick. Senator Mitch Mcconnell said not on my watch am i going to bring him for a vote. Kayleigh yeah, do you remember what the democrats did . They were kicking and screaming. Hes a moderate, hes middle of the road. How a dare you confirm him . Harris is he . Kayleigh clearly not. He has no understanding or maybe its political convenience. Beyond that, he was asked about the National Security division. Very important here. He wants to take members of the National Security division and pillow moat them to a task force. Guess where this division was prescribed . The patriot act. He said i wont use to it go after parents but hes going to take people from this nfc board that was created by the patriot act. Harris right. He wont walk back any of this. I said, it sounds like he needs a lawyer sitting next to him trying to decipher what was going on. Were watching right now live senator tom tillis of north carolina. While the hearing has been going on, weve been gathering hot points for you. Senator john kennedy of louisiana pressed attorney general garland moments ago on coordinating with the white house. Watch it. In drafting the letter, the National School Board Associated collaborated with the white house. They worked on it together for several weeks. We know the national School Board Association wants the white house and the association that was unhappen my with the letter. National School Board Association sent the letter to the white house and the white house promptly called you and said sick the fbi on parents at school board hearings. Thats what i mean. The white house is the prophet here. Youre the vessel. Isnt that correct . Senator, i did not speak with anyone from the white house while i worked on this memorandum. This memorandum reflects my views that we need to protect Public Officials from violence and at the same time protecting parents ability to object to policies i get that. I heard your testimony. Harris senator kennedy, we know he doesnt mince words. Youre just a vessel, arent you to attorney general Merrick Garland. Emily i want my attorney general to be a master of law. Harris you wants him to be extraordinary . Emily yes. Who were seeing now is a men that is less than ordinary and a master of evasion. He comes out there and says its his job to protect Public Officials against violent threats. That requires an additional action for it to be pulled under federal purview. For kayleighs point earlier, when it suits him its a matter of state law. When it suits him, its a matter under federal jurisdiction. Niece why executed a memorandum on if four corners of the heater that was with the nsa and the white house. Hes not walked back, not defends himself. Hes continueses to not satisfy any of our questions harris why wont he walk it back in some people say they dont say sorry because they think theyre complicit. Sometimes theyre stubborn. We dont know. In this instance when senators are saying will you apologize for something that seemed like it was adjacent to the language in the School Board Association memo, which they have walked back, will you to the same . I cant speak to why he cant. All i can speak to is the fact that he for some reason is unable to intellectually articulate a reason why he did not investigate further than the four corners of the letter, why the opening sentence of his mohammed random, deploying federal resources against parents relied on an untrue fact of the hysterical had wringing letter a disturbing site in harassments and threats. Then he doubled down and said i need to protect against violence and threats. He reminds me that hes unequipped to hold this position harris even early on in the senate hearing, Merrick Garland was pressed not all things are violence are at a federal level. He agreed with that. So why go around local Law Enforcement that is nobody called for help. Nobody called for help. He agreed emily he keeps flipflopping. Because he already crossed that line of waivering jurisdictions, of not being truthful. What consequences have we seen in the past with people that are untruthful under oath . Throwing that out there. Thats why he dances between the two. Hes not been held to the fire yet. What i continue to see is the fact that he crosses that line. Hes a master of evasion and convenience when it sues him. Harris this is no cake walk nor guy benson was the house version last week. This is backtoback with Merrick Garland. If nothing else, hes had a chance to brush up on a few things that he was asked about last week like a young child getting raped at school. Hes also had an opportunity to rethink the memo and the letter that he wrote out of that sba memo. How is he doing . The spin is weak because there arent good substantive defenses for any of this. I think its just watching this and seeing him spin and dissemble, the word that senator cotton used a number of times. It sounds unfathomable to me that the attorney general would use his power at the Justice Department and bring in the fastball to intervene on this matter if not for that latter from the School Board Association which according to documents from the washington freebie con and others, there was collaboration between that group and others. This is an interest from the political left and the Justice Department got their gears mushing for that reason. That is an inescapable reason here. You made this point well, harris. Everyone here, every person on the virtual couch is opposed to violence or threats of violence. Theres no place for that in our society. We all agree that thats not Rocket Science here. That is a point of broad agreement and consensus. Why some scatter shot examples of people going too far, throwing a threat and it has been condemned, when that happens, there are state officials and local officials that deal with it, the federalizing of that socalled problem or epidemic or whatever, theres no actual underlying justification that i have seen for that beyond the politics of it and the coordination that i mentioned a moment ago. That ultimately is the crux of the problem here and garland doesnt have a good answer for it. Harris wow. Dagen, im not going to mix apples and oranges but im going to call it a little bit of an adjacent case. The fbi has a lot going on. The one thing that im thinking about has to do with simone biles and the other young women that were gymnasts and the assaults on those women over and over as they were following their dreams in a sport. The fbi is busy. They have to clean that up on aisle 7. They have a lot going on. Why does the doj and their leader, Merrick Garland, why do they believe that they step in here where Law Enforcement is already handling it . The doj is getting and Merrick Garland led by Merrick Garland is getting involved in this issue because this is a replay the beginning of a replay of the obama biden Justice Department, which was highly politicized. The doj was used as a political weapon. I point to the irs case under obama and biden. Merrick garland is trying to clean up what he has been saying he kept repeatedly saying even to senator cotton, this is not about parents at school. Its about violence and threats of violence. Cotton says thats not what your memo says. Hes trying to sweep up what hes done so far. I want to quickly point out that the First Amendment protects speech unless it unambiguously calls for the use of force that the speaker clearly intends which would result in the likelihood of violence being real and eminent. Thats the standard that hes not talking about. Harris i wonder if well hear from fbi agents about this. I dont know. I dont know what their recourse is, maybe theyre parents and saying we have so many things to do. Wouldnt that be a fascinating interview to watch . Meanwhile, the hearing continues. Hear on fox news, well bring you all that were watching with you monitoring that and the highlights. Thanks to guy, dagen and my team on the couch, kayleigh and emily for watching outnumbered. Heres america reports. Merrick garland on capitol hill testifying before the Senate Judiciary committee in firing hearing fuelled by a doj memo directing the f. B. I. To investigate angry parents at school board meetings. Im john roberts. Im sandra smith, this is america reports. Senators in intense moments pressing garland on that memo, asking him to rescind it. Lawmakers expressing concern over the Chilling Effect they fear it will have on free speech in this country
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