Senator Dick Durbin, the Democratic Whip and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today criticizing Senate Republicans for planning to change Senate rules in order to speed up confirmations of President Trump’s nominees. Durbin argued that this move would weaken the Senate’s constitutional role of providing advice and consent on nominations.
“Before the recess, Senate Democrats worked in good faith with Senate Republicans to negotiate a package of nominations to break the deadlock and move these nominations through the chamber in an expedited, professional, [and] bipartisan fashion. At the very last minute, however, President Trump blew up the negotiation. Rather than stand up to him, Senate Republicans are now willing to give away the Senate’s authority when it comes to advice and consent,” said Durbin. “Senate Republicans claim they are violating Senate rules just for this set of nominees, but I’m afraid this is going to open the door to rushing through more extreme nominations whose only qualification seems to be loyalty to the chief.”
Durbin highlighted concerns about individuals who have already been confirmed by the Senate. He mentioned FBI Director Kash Patel, saying Patel had removed career public servants at the FBI as a private citizen and then lied under oath during his confirmation hearing. According to Durbin, Patel tried out for his current job by downplaying January 6 events and producing content that featured those charged with violence against police officers.
“I warned my colleagues that confirming Mr. Patel would risk our national security and public safety… My colleagues gave a green light to use the FBI’s vast surveillance and investigative power to go after President Trump’s critics. That is exactly what has happened,” Durbin continued.
The Senator also discussed Aaron Reitz, nominated for Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy. During his confirmation hearing, Reitz did not commit that elected officials must follow federal court orders. Durbin noted Reitz’s views against marriage equality rulings and birthright citizenship; he resigned after three months as Assistant Attorney General before running for Texas Attorney General.
“Senate Republicans also confirmed Jeanine Pirro as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia… Ms. Pirro is another nominee who auditioned for a role in the Administration by declaring her loyalty to the President on TV for over a decade. Ms. Pirro’s repeated lies to millions of viewers about the 2020 election forced Fox News to pay nearly $800 million to settle defamation claims brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Like Mr. Patel, Ms. Pirro has claimed January 6 rioters were ‘hostages’… and she argued that prosecutors handling January 6 cases should themselves be criminally prosecuted,” Durbin said.
Durbin pointed out that while U.S Attorneys are not affected by this new rule change, he recalled actions taken by then-Senator Vance—now Vice President—which set a precedent impacting current nomination procedures.
“It’s been my honor and responsibility to vote on many nominees as part of the advice and consent section of the Constitution. Let me give you some facts about filling vacancies… We [Democrats and Republicans] filled the vacancies for U.S. Attorneys in President Donald Trump’s first term. All [85] spots were filled without a single record vote… Then what happened under the Biden Administration? Unfortunately, something that we’re still living with today and we see manifested in this procedural action. There was a decision made by one senator, Senator Vance of Ohio, now our Vice President, to stop the nominations on the floor for Biden’s U.S. Attorneys by voice vote. He stood up and objected. He said… ‘I want to do this to grind the Department of Justice to a halt.’… I came to the floor on many occasions pleading with him to stop his effort… And so, we find ourselves where we are today, a standoff when it comes to U.S. Attorneys and other nominees because of this history. There is a way out of this mess. There’s a bipartisan solution to this,” Durbin concluded.
