Opening Statement

WASHINGTON, DC - Today, Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) delivered the following opening statement, as prepared, for the House Judiciary Committee Markup of the Report Recommending U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland for Contempt of Congress:

"Twenty Million Taxpayer Dollars.

Chairman Jordan, who consistently opposes government spending on everything from feeding children to education and healthcare, has spent $20 million taxpayer dollars this Congress to investigate his various conspiracy theories.

And what exactly has he delivered to the American people on their $20 million investment?

Nothing. 

No evidence that the conspiracies are true.

No indictments.

No impeachment.

No wins of any significance.

If the chairman of a board of directors took $20 million from the shareholders of a company and delivered nothing, he’d be fired at the next board meeting.

And the Chairman knows that if he doesn’t come up with something to show for the $20 million he spent, the MAGA political base may stay home next November.

So, he and Chairman Comer are scrambling in a desperate attempt to look like they have accomplished something.

The Chairman wants to make it seem like he uncovered some wrongdoing by the Attorney General.

In reality, the Attorney General and DOJ have been fully responsive to this Committee in every way that might be material to their long-dead impeachment inquiry. 

Sometimes they have been too responsive, in my opinion, given the obvious bad faith of the MAGA majority.

The Chairman was desperately hoping that Special Counsel Hur would indict President Biden for mishandling classified documents, so that the Chairman could attack President Biden and misdirect the American people away from Trump’s treacherous handling of classified information.

In reality, the Special Counsel cleared Mr. Biden of wrongdoing.

The Chairman hoped he could intimidate prosecutors out of indicting Donald Trump for his crimes.

Donald Trump has been charged with 88 felonies.

This list goes on and on.

The Chairman digs, and searches, and intimidates, but there’s just no “there” there.

So, what do our Republican friends do when an investigation turns up short? Simply put, they engage in fantasy.

That’s what they are doing here today. They accuse the Attorney General of withholding key evidence, but the Attorney General has substantially complied with their every request.

DOJ has produced 92,000 pages of documents this Congress alone and made dozens of witnesses available for interviews, hearings, and briefings before the Committee. That’s more pages of documents and more witnesses than the Trump Justice Department produced to this Committee in four years.

With respect to the February 27, 2024 subpoena, the Department turned over all of the information Republicans asked for.

There has been no obstruction, only cooperation.

This morning, the President asserted executive privilege over the audio files at issue. In the letter informing the Committee of this assertion, the Department of Justice noted that producing the audio recordings would “raise an unacceptable risk of undermining the Department’s ability to conduct … high-profile criminal investigations – in particular, investigations where the voluntary cooperation of the White House officials is exceedingly important.”

Chairman Jordan claims that he needs these records to understand the pauses, pace, and tone of the conversation. This is absurd and clearly pretextual, and in any event, does not outweigh the substantial concerns expressed by the President and the Department.

Moreover, with respect to the recording at issue in this report, a complete transcript has already been provided to the Committee. The only thing that has not been produced is the recording itself, which can be easily manipulated. This is not an idle concern. Last year, a witness testifying in a closed-door deposition told us that she was the victim of a manipulated video amplified by Republicans on this committee, and that it contributed to a flood of death threats against her.

This isn’t really about a policy disagreement with the DOJ.

This is about feeding the MAGA base and getting Donald Trump reelected.

But don’t take my word for it. Take it from the Chairman’s own mouth:

• Quote, “I’m busting my tail to get [Donald Trump] reelected.”
• Quote, “We need to make sure [Donald Trump] wins.”
• Quote, “It’s so important that we stay engaged and help Donald Trump get back in the White House.”

And, clearly, Donald Trump needs the Chairman’s help to win the White House.

Because Trump has been indicted FOUR times. Right at this very moment, he faces:

• 34 charges in New York state court for falsifying business records and making hush money payments to “catch and kill” information that could be harmful to Trump’s reelection campaign;
• 40 charges in a federal court in Florida for his mishandling and withholding of classified documents that put national security at severe risk;
• 4 charges in a federal court in Washington, DC for his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results and fueling the insurrection on January 6, 2021, at the United States Capitol;
• 10 charges in Georgia state court for attempts to intimidate and force officials to overturn the lawful election results in the 2020 presidential election.

And that’s not all.

You’re going to hear a lot about President Biden’s memory today.

Republicans won’t mention that Biden has been ranked as one of the most successful presidents of our time.

They won’t mention the once-in-a-generation, transformative legislation he has ushered into law.

They won’t mention Special Counsel Hur’s comments to President Biden about his “photographic” memory.

They’ll just go on and on about a couple of gratuitous, widely contradicted comments in the Hur Report that suggest the President has a poor memory.

What Republicans DEFINITELY won’t show you is the mounting evidence that Trump is mentally incompetent to hold the office of the President.

But again, don’t listen to me. Trump’s comments last weekend alone defy explanation.  Watch for yourself.

[VIDEO PLAYS]

The… “late, great Hannibal Lecter”…?

I can’t even begin to understand how Republicans have chosen this man as their champion.

But they have.

And now House Republicans are paying for it by flocking to the sidelines of his criminal trial, sacrificing their integrity to defend him against, frankly, indefensible acts.

Almost everybody who worked for the former President seems to know that Trump is unfit for office and that these acts of public humiliation on his behalf are wrong.  Again, don’t just take my word for it.

[VIDEO PLAYS]

What more evidence do my colleagues need? Trump once said that he could shoot someone standing on Fifth Avenue and would still keep his supporters.

Well, at least in this chamber, that’s obviously true.

And it truly saddens me.

I’ve been in this body for many years.

And although we have always had our disagreements, I’ve never seen Members of Congress so readily turn on democracy itself in service to one man.

I never in my life thought I’d see Members of Congress readily attack law enforcement officers to protect a criminal.

I never thought I’d see Members of Congress defend and minimize a coup attempt, as if the rioters who stormed this building and the Trump associates who led them here were somehow patriots.

But here we are.

I think Chairman Jordan knows that this markup will amount to nothing.

Like most of the bills House Republicans have pushed on purely partisan lines, this contempt resolution will do very little—other than smear the reputation of Merrick Garland, who will remain a good and decent public servant no matter what they say about him today. 

This markup may give Donald Trump something to watch on Fox when he gets home from his criminal trial tonight, but it will almost certainly not convince the Department of Justice to produce the one remaining file in question.

Like the broader impeachment effort before it, this contempt resolution will have been a partisan stunt, destined to fail from the very start.  It is a total waste of time.

The American people actually need us to do important work—to fund the government, to secure affordable healthcare, to reduce inflation and housing costs, to help them take care of their children and families, and to keep our nation safe.

I’m tired of these games, and so are the American people.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this measure, and I yield back."