Calling Out Yesterday’s Partisan Hearing On Crime, Durbin Delivers Opening Statement During Senate Judiciary Committee Executive Business Meeting

Calling Out Yesterday's Partisan Hearing On Crime, Durbin Delivers Opening Statement During Senate Judiciary Committee Executive Business Meeting

During his remarks, Durbin called out the Trump Administration for engaging in political theater rather than addressing crime

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered an opening statement during today's Senate Judiciary Committee executive business meeting. Before voting on today's nominees, Durbin expressed frustration about yesterday's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on crime. Rather than holding a hearing on the harms of the Trump Administration's illegal and unconstitutional deployment of the military to police American cities as Durbin requested, yesterday's hearing was politically framed to blame "blue cities" for crime.

A full list of the 20 nominees voted on during today's hearing can be found here.

Key quotes on the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on Crime:

"I have been honored to serve on this Judiciary Committee for more than 20 years. We have our differences, serious differences. You can hear that manifest in the debate on the Floor and the Committee and on specific legislation. I've always been heartened by the fact that when it came to certain aspects of law enforcement and law and order and crime, we find common ground."

"The hearing yesterday, I felt, was too partisan. I said as much before the Committee yesterday. I hope we can get back to this long-standing tradition of trying to find a bipartisan basis to fight violent crime. I do not accept the premise that if you have a Democratic mayor or Democratic governor, you will be 'soft on crime.' I don't believe there is evidence to support that. There are certainly red counties and red states with crime statistics which are appalling, as well as blue states. I hope we can get back to working together."

"If we are going to have a discussion on that issue though, let's make sure we tell the whole story. President Trump's budget has cut hundreds of millions of dollars in public safety funding for state and local law enforcement. That is not a political statement. That is a fact. President Trump has also diverted thousands of FBI, DEA, and ATF agents from their critical missions to carry out the President's mass deportation agenda. Not surprisingly, as reported in the press and brought up yesterday, federal drug prosecutions this year under the Trump Administration have dropped to the lowest levels in decades."

"How are we doing on mass deportation? Seventy percent of the people who have been detained under the Trump mass deportation banner have no criminal record. No criminal record."

"Of course, President Trump granted full and unconditional pardons to nearly 1,600 of the January 6 insurrectionists, including more than 600 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement… Many of these pardoned rioters have been charged and convicted of other offenses since they were given a pardon."

"Jared Wise was filmed on January 6 encouraging his fellow rioters in the Capitol to attack Metropolitan police officers and 'kill them.' Mr. Wise now has a new job. Guess what he's doing? Senior advisor at the Department of Justice. Nothing says 'tough on crime' quite like hiring someone who participated in the assault on law enforcement officers as a leader in America's highest law enforcement agency."

"Instead of taking concrete actions to improve public safety, President Trump is weaponizing federal law enforcement to seek vengeance against his perceived political enemies. Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, a Republican appointed by President Trump, did not believe there was sufficient evidence to bring criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James or former FBI director James Comey. What was the reward for this Trump nominee? He was forced to resign, and President Trump installed his former personal attorney, someone with no prosecutorial experience, to indict James Comey despite the weakness of the case."

"Instead of pursuing effective crime prevention policies, President Trump plays a strongman on TV. He has deployed hundreds of troops to American cities and threatened to send more… The videos that portrayed what these officials are doing with the Department of Homeland Security, marching down Michigan Avenue in full combat dress with long rifles is an embarrassment to me. That is not what America should be all about. This is dangerous and un-American and should be opposed by every member."

"It's time for us to get together on a bipartisan basis and support the rule of law and law enforcement. The American people deserve law enforcement that serves them and is not weaponized to serve the whims of a political agenda."

Video of Durbin's opening statement is available here.

Audio of Durbin's opening statement is available here.

Footage of Durbin's opening statement is available herefor TV Stations.

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