At today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) grilled judicial nominee Karla Campbell about a tweet written by a candidate she donated to.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Ms. Campbell, I'd like to start with you if we can.
00:13According to FEC reports, the largest donation that you've made to a candidate is a $1,500
00:20campaign contribution to Odessa Kelly, a candidate from the Tennessee 7th Congressional District.
00:27Does that sound right to you?
00:30That seems accurate.
00:31Yes, Senator.
00:32Now, look, this candidate, Ms. Kelly, has made some pretty crazy statements.
00:39Are you aware of those?
00:42Senator, I suspect that some of the statements you're going to ask me about were after her
00:48candidacy and no, I have not.
00:50I don't follow her on social media.
00:52I don't have Twitter.
00:53All right, well, you don't have Twitter, but look, she made some really awful statements,
01:02including the following tweet just four days before, not after, not after she was a candidate,
01:08not before she was a candidate, while she was a candidate, and just four days before
01:13you contributed to your campaign.
01:15Here's what it says.
01:16Like Cory Booker said, hashtag Ketanji Brown Jackson, God has got you 100% because Blackburn,
01:24Cruz, Cotton, Graham, Hawley are obviously aligned with the devil, apparently I'm not.
01:31Be great.
01:32Be great, black woman, be great.
01:34The hate is real.
01:35The racism is apparent.
01:36The disrespect is on another level.
01:39Now, this tweet, which is a public statement, attacked some members of this committee, a
01:45lot of members of this committee, as being, quote unquote, aligned with the devil.
01:50What does that mean?
01:51I mean, do you agree with Odessa Kelly, that members of this committee, the members that
02:00are mentioned in this tweet, who happened to have opposed Justice Jackson's nomination,
02:09you agree that that means that they're racist, that they're the devil?
02:14Would the same apply to those senators who criticize Justice Clarence Thomas, or to those
02:20who voted against his confirmation when he came through this committee?
02:25Senator, I am not familiar with those statements, and I do not support them.
02:32Okay.
02:33I understand that, and I understand that you're not on Twitter, but this is a candidate that
02:37you donated to.
02:38Now, I'm willing to assume that these are not, that's not the only crazy statement she's
02:42made.
02:44In fact, it's certainly not.
02:48On January 11th, 2022, only a few months before you contributed to Odessa Kelly, she tweeted,
02:54quote, let me make this simple.
02:5641 million people in the U.S. and the USAID as AA slash BLK, and their ability to have
03:05fair representation is being decided by 52 white people in the Senate, including Tim
03:11Scott, 48 Republicans plus two Ds.
03:15That's insane.
03:16Now, I don't know what that means by white people, including Tim Scott.
03:22I think Tim Scott would probably take exception to that.
03:25How is this tweet calling out our black colleague, Senator Tim Scott, how is calling him white
03:35not racist?
03:37Senator, again, I'm not familiar with that statement.
03:43I have no affiliation with that statement.
03:46I don't know what some of the acronyms in that statement.
03:48Do you share those views?
03:49No, Senator, I do not.
03:50All right.
03:51Now, according to your AVO profile, you've been legal advisor to an organization called
03:56Workers' Dignity from 2013 to the present.
03:59Is that correct?
04:00Senator, I have never represented Workers' Dignity.
04:03A long time ago, I was on a legal advisory board to help them.
04:07So you have been a legal advisor.
04:09You have been a legal advisor to the- How come you didn't tell me that?
04:13I apologize, Senator.
04:14I have never represented Workers' Dignity.
04:16I was on an advisory board about 15 years ago when they were starting.
04:22Okay.
04:23And when did your work for Workers' Dignity end?
04:28I'm sorry, can you- You talked about when, that it was a long
04:30time ago.
04:31When did it end?
04:32When did your work for them as a legal advisor end?
04:36Senator, I would guess in about 2012 or 13.
04:42All right.
04:43Now, according to your AVO profile, on June 12th, according to that profile, you authored
04:51an endorsement for an attorney, an attorney named Raquel Lee Bellamy on June 12th.
04:57So at the least, you should have been aware that your AVO profile listed that you are
05:03currently a legal advisor to Workers' Dignity.
05:07Were you aware of this?
05:08I was not, Senator.
05:10You were not aware of the fact that even though June 12th- Now, June 12th, that's just a week
05:16ago yesterday.
05:19Tell me what I'm missing here, because you authored an endorsement for an attorney named
05:26Raquel Lee Bellamy on June 12th.
05:28So were you not aware that your AVO resume listed that you are currently a legal advisor
05:37to Workers' Dignity?
05:40Senator, I believe it's been more than a decade since I looked at my AVO profile, and so I
05:48was not aware that it said that.
05:49More than a decade or more than a week?
05:51Which one?
05:52I have- Yeah, I have not looked at it.
05:55Are you suggesting June 12th of this year?
05:58Yes.
05:59Yes.
06:00No, that is incorrect, Senator.
06:02Okay, but you can't tell us when it ended.
06:04You haven't told us really when it began or when it ended.
06:07A minute ago, you didn't acknowledge to Mr. Grassley what was going on, so I'm a little
06:11confused.
06:12See, I'm about to be gaveled out.
06:13I'm out of time, but this raises some questions.
06:16It also raises some questions.
06:18Your largest political campaign donation went to someone who has made blatantly racist comments
06:25and really wildly inappropriate comments about almost every member of this committee, and
06:29I find that troubling.
06:35Thanks.
06:37Can I, first of all, welcome.
06:40Glad you're here.
06:42Wish you well.
06:45This is a bit of an-