Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Welcome to the House Judiciary Committee, Director Wray. Earlier this week, in a message to your agents and employees, you gave us your vision of what the FBI is supposed to be:
"We find ourselves under the microscope each and every day-and rightfully so. We do hard work for a living. We are entrusted with protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution and laws of the United States. Because of the importance of our mission, we are also entrusted with great power, and we should expect-and welcome-people asking tough questions about how we use that power. That goes with the job and always has."
Witnesses
Christopher Wray
Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Witnesses
Samuel Bray
Professor, Notre Dame Law School, UCLA School of Law
Amanda Frost
American University Washington College of Law
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Congressional Black Caucus Chair, Cedric L. Richmond, Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers Jr., and CBC Judicial Nominations Working Group Chair, Eleanor Holmes Norton sent a letter to United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Chairman, Chuck Grassley, urging him to uphold the longstanding blue slip policy, which prevents the Committee from considering a judicial nominee without the approval of both Senators from the nominee's state.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
In the ordinary course of business, any one of a dozen topics related to the Department of Justice would be worthy of its own hearing.
And, to be clear, I would rather spend our time today discussing the upkeep of the criminal justice system, the enforcement of civil rights, and the work we must all do to ensure access to the ballot box.
Instead, we must spend our time debating the troubles of a wayward Administration: how the Attorney General conducts himself before Congress, how President Trump undermines the integrity of the justice system, and how the Department continues to ignore the oversight requests of this Committee.
Today, U.S. Department of Justice Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before the House Judiciary Committee for the first time during its annual oversight hearing. Every Attorney General before Attorney General Sessions has testified before the House Judiciary Committee during their first six months of taking office. Watch the hearing on House Judiciary Democrats' Facebook page here.
Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) issued the following statement after the hearing:
Witnesses
Rabbi Baker
Director, International Jewish Affairs, American Jewish Committee
Paul Clement
Partner, Kirkland and Ellis, LLP
Today, ahead of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on November 14, 2017, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) led a letter signed by every Democratic member of the House Judiciary Committee to Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
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Witnesses
James McHenry
Acting Director, U.S. Department of Justice, Executive Office for Immigration Review
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Dr. Kathi Aultman M.D.
Fellow, AMerican College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
David F. Forte
Professor of Law, Cleveland State University
House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) today sent a letter to Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), calling for him to widen the scope of the investigation he launched last week with Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy into decisions made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2016, to include the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, foreign interference in American elections, and related issues.
Witnesses
Francis Cissna
Director, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, United States Citizenship and Immigration Services
Rebecca Gambler
Director, U.S. Government Accountability Office, Homeland Security and Justice
Today, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers Jr. (D-MI.) delivered the following remarks on the House Floor during the debate of H.R. 469 the Sunshine for Regulations and Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2017.
H.R. 469 Is an Assault on Americans Health, Safety, and Privacy
H.R. 469, the "Sunshine for Regulations and Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2017," would significantly delay the process for ensuring that statutory deadlines established by Congress are enforced to protect Americans from serious harms such as dirty air and water, unsafe products, and reckless behavior by large financial institutions.
Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, the Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Rep. John Conyers, Jr., the Ranking Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, issued the following statement in response to an announcement that Chairmen Trey Gowdy and Bob Goodlatte are opening a partisan Republican investigation into decisions made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2016: