Jamie Raskin Points To Indictment Of Dems By Biden-Era FBI In Response To GOP 'Weaponization' Cries

4/7/2025

During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) responded to Republican claims that the FBI was weaponized under the Biden Administration by pointing to the prosecution of two Democratic lawmakers.

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Transcript

00:00With that being said, I will recognize the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Raskin.

00:06Thank you kindly, Mr. Chairman. One of our colleagues referred to the

00:10weaponization of the DOJ and specifically focused on the January 6th defendants.

00:16That startled me because 140 American police officers were violently assaulted on that day,

00:22wounded, hospitalized, some of them disfigured, disabled, forced to leave police work. But he

00:29said that there would have been a better use of FBI and prosecutorial and investigative

00:34resources. And I wonder what he was referring to. And in any event,

00:38Dr. Hunt, do you agree with that assessment?

00:42Thank you for that question. January 6th shocked and horrified me. That was a shameful

00:48day, not least because of the many attacks on our law enforcement officers.

00:54So any suggestion that is a low priority and should not be investigated is shocking to me.

00:59I can't imagine a more important devotion of resources by the FBI to anyone who would

01:05attack our nation's capital. Some of our colleagues have, again,

01:13been going back to the idea that the Biden FBI was converted into some kind of political instrument.

01:21And when I look at the prosecutions that come out of it, I'm thinking about the one of Senator

01:26Bob Menendez from New Jersey, who's a Democrat, of Henry Cuellar, who's a Democrat, lots of other

01:31Democrats. Other than Donald Trump, I really can't think of any others

01:35on the Republican side. And I'm just getting the feeling that they think Donald Trump really

01:41should be above and beyond the law. And that's what this whole weaponization thing is about,

01:46other than setting the conditions to turn it into an instrument of revenge and retribution,

01:52as Donald Trump has promised. Do you think the FBI was acting

01:57as an instrument of partisanship in the last administration?

02:06I can only speak from my personal experience. And I can say this. When I was an FBI agent,

02:12my fellow, the men and women that I worked with, they based their investigations

02:16on facts and law. They based their investigations on predication. The worry I have is with respect

02:23to corruption today. When there's selective enforcement, and just as a regular American

02:27citizen, I'm not an insider now. When I see a high-level politician and charges are dropped,

02:33and there's no reason, I, as an American citizen, don't understand why that's the case.

02:37You're referring to Mayor Adams.

02:38That's correct.

02:39But there was a reason, which was he agreed to play on Donald Trump's political team.

02:43And the very Republican, conservative U.S. attorney for the Southern District said nothing

02:48had changed in terms of the facts of the case. Nothing had changed in terms of the law. Nothing

02:52changed in terms of the evidence. All that had changed was that he'd made this political alignment

02:57with Donald Trump. She resigned rather than participate in that corrupt bargain,

03:01as did her deputy, who said it would take a fool or a coward to accept that deal.

03:06He also clerked for a conservative Supreme Court justice and was active in the Federalist Society.

03:12And five other lawyers dropped out rather than do it, until finally they had to

03:17force somebody to do it from D.C., who said he'd be willing to do it because he was about

03:20to leave his job. You say, let's base it on the facts. And I'm really curious about

03:24the Signal group chat thing, because the country's in an uproar about the fact that

03:29the most precious national security information was shared on a Signal group chat,

03:36where a journalist was actually invited in accidentally by somebody to participate.

03:41And some of my colleagues seem to say, well, it was a one-shot deal. Let's just let it go. And

03:45it's no big deal. The FBI director's already said, no, no, nothing to see there. If this were a

03:50standard practice, just a yes or no, do you think it would be a problem? That would be a problem, yes.

03:56Ms. Parker, do you agree it would be a problem if it were a standard practice?

04:01My understanding, I was not on the Signal chat. I just know it.

04:03Just yes or no, because I've got little time.

04:07A mistake was made, and people have taken ownership.

04:08Okay, Mr. Stout, can you say, would it be a problem for it to be a standard practice

04:12to conduct sensitive foreign policy on a Signal chat group?

04:16Yes, I would.

04:17Okay. And Mr. Whitson, do you agree?

04:19Yes.

04:20Okay. Well, it just came out, like, 10 minutes ago, Walt's team set up at least

04:2520 Signal group chats for crises across the world. So it was, as one might expect,

04:32a very standard practice with Mr. Waltz. And I'm sure this will raise the question of whether or

04:36not he really should continue in that position. But do you think that the FBI should investigate

04:43what the national security implications and what the public safety implications are

04:49of his having done that, Dr. Hunt?

04:51So this comes back to the rule of law. As an FBI agent, there were strict rules about

04:55sensitive material. We had to be in a skiff. We had to take the utmost caution. So to treat other

05:00people that are more powerful differently definitely suggests to me a deviation from

05:05the rule of law.

05:06All right. Thank you. And I yield back to you, Mr. Chair.

05:09Thank you, gentlemen. You know, there's a difference between

05:12a mistake and purposeful, perpetrated policies are wrong.

05:18Mr. Chair, just point out. Okay.

05:20I beat you to it.

Jamie Raskin Points To Indictment Of Dems By Biden-Era FBI In Response To GOP 'Weaponization' Cries

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