Russell Fry Demands Answers From AG Garland About Number Three DOJ Official Who Joined Bragg Team

4 months ago

At yesterday's House Judiciary Committee hearing, Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland about Matthew Colangelo.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:03 Mr. Gates talked about Mr. Colangelo earlier.

00:05 Mr. Colangelo was acting associate attorney general for the Justice Department under President

00:09 Biden prior to your arrival.

00:10 Is that my understanding?

00:11 That's right.

00:12 That's right.

00:13 And he was, is that considered to be the third highest ranking official within the DOJ?

00:17 Yes.

00:18 Okay.

00:19 What did he do prior to his service with the Department of Justice?

00:22 I didn't know Mr. Colangelo before.

00:24 My understanding was he had once been in the Civil Rights Division.

00:27 I don't know his resume.

00:29 Would it surprise you to know that he was the deputy director for the Obama-Biden administration's

00:34 National Economic Council?

00:38 Wouldn't surprise me or not surprise me.

00:41 Were you aware also that he worked for the New York Attorney General, Letitia James,

00:45 for a period of time?

00:46 I've read that in the paper.

00:48 Would it surprise you to know that he was paid thousands of dollars by the DNC for political

00:52 consulting in 2018?

00:53 So that I have no idea about.

00:58 So I think the issue that, that, that we're having is that it looks like that this particular

01:04 gentleman, his whole mission seems to be prosecuting a president.

01:09 He started off with Letitia James.

01:12 He has a stint with the Department of Justice.

01:15 And then Mr. Gates kind of talked about this earlier.

01:17 Normally if you're, if you're going for something, you start out at a DA level and then you might

01:21 move to the Department of Justice.

01:23 Like it's an elevation.

01:24 He has gone backwards.

01:25 Why is that, you think?

01:26 Let me just set forth the whole thing here if I can.

01:30 Okay.

01:31 I know Mr. Colangelo because of his service in the department.

01:35 He's highly ethical person and excellent lawyer.

01:39 His, the associate's office supervises the civil division, the civil rights division,

01:45 the antitrust division.

01:47 That office does not supervise any of the criminal components that supervise the investigation,

01:54 the criminal investigations of Mr. Trump.

01:56 Don't you think though, Mr. Attorney General, that the, his career choices, the path that

02:02 he has chosen, at least at a very least, poses the perception of an ethical issue for the

02:10 Department of Justice?

02:11 No, I don't see how it poses any issue for the Department of Justice.

02:15 He's not an employee of the Justice Department.

02:17 The Justice Department did not send him to New York.

02:22 Those decisions in New York are made by the DA of New York.

02:27 Well fair to say, but we have a, you know, Manhattan DA headline, Manhattan DA hires

02:32 ex-senior DOJ official as office investigates Trump.

02:36 Another one from the New York Times, Manhattan DA hires ex-justice official to help lead

02:40 Trump inquiry.

02:42 Now you might not have had anything to do with that, but the perception is, and the

02:45 American people perceive, that the Department of Justice is intimately engaged with this.

02:50 And I think in my last minute here, here's the issue that I think that people say, and

02:55 polling shows this consistently, that the American people believe that the prosecution

02:59 of President Trump is more about politics than it is about any violation of the law.

03:04 In the DOJ's own words, its mission consists of independence and impartiality, honesty

03:09 and integrity.

03:10 At your Senate confirmation hearing in 2021, you said the department will be under my protection

03:15 for the purpose of preventing any kind of partisan or other improper motive in making

03:20 any kind of investigation or prosecution.

03:24 But since that time, the DOJ has obstructed this committee's impeachment inquiry.

03:31 It's allowed the statute of limitations to run, to expire on Hunter Biden's 2014 tax

03:37 records and the crimes therein.

03:39 Slow walked the prosecution of Hunter Biden as testified to by whistleblowers.

03:44 You wouldn't allow investigators to follow department protocols.

03:47 You've limited witness testimony here in this committee as we try to provide oversight.

03:51 You've limited the scope in which they can actually say and the number of witnesses and

03:56 instructed two of the employees to disregard this committee's own subpoena.

04:00 You refused to comply with the subpoena regarding the audio tapes, hence the contempt, the regrettable

04:06 and unfortunate contempt that we have to bring.

04:09 You pointed Jack Smith to prosecute Trump despite his very interesting career of losing

04:14 cases and targeting political opponents.

04:18 You sanctioned a raid on Mar-a-Lago.

04:20 And the concern that we have is that you're either asleep at the wheel or you're intentionally

04:26 allowing the department and the agents therein to engage in political prosecution of their

04:31 opponents.

04:32 Thank you.

04:33 And I yield back.

Russell Fry Demands Answers From AG Garland About Number Three DOJ Official Who Joined Bragg Team

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