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Oversight of the Department of Justice : Hearing OVERSIGHT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 14, 2017 Serial No. 115–47 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 32–380 WASHINGTON : 2018 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Oct 20, 2018 Jkt 032380 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 E:\HR\OC\A380.XXX A380 dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with HEARING COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia, Chairman F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, Jr., JOHN CONYERS, Jr., Michigan Wisconsin JERROLD NADLER, New York LAMAR SMITH, Texas ZOE LOFGREN, California STEVE CHABOT, Ohio SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas DARRELL E. ISSA, California STEVE COHEN, Tennessee STEVE KING, Iowa HENRY C. ‘‘HANK’’ JOHNSON, Jr., Georgia TRENT FRANKS, Arizona THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida LOUIE GOHMERT, Texas LUIS V. GUTIE´ RREZ, Illinois JIM JORDAN, Ohio KAREN BASS, California TED POE, Texas CEDRIC L. RICHMOND, Louisiana JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES, New York TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania DAVID CICILLINE, Rhode Island TREY GOWDY, South Carolina ERIC SWALWELL, California RAU´ L LABRADOR, Idaho TED LIEU, California BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas JAMIE RASKIN, Maryland DOUG COLLINS, Georgia PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington RON DESANTIS, Florida BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois KEN BUCK, Colorado JOHN RATCLIFFE, Texas MARTHA ROBY, Alabama MATT GAETZ, Florida MIKE JOHNSON, Louisiana ANDY BIGGS, Arizona SHELLEY HUSBAND, Chief of Staff and General Counsel PERRY APELBAUM, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel (II) VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Oct 20, 2018 Jkt 032380 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 E:\HR\OC\A380.XXX A380 dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with HEARING C O N T E N T S NOVEMBER 14, 2017 OPENING STATEMENTS Page The Honorable Bob Goodlatte, Virginia, Chairman, Committee on the Judici- ary ......................................................................................................................... 1 The Honorable John Conyers, Jr., Michigan, Ranking Member, Committee on the Judiciary ................................................................................................... 4 WITNESSES The Honorable Jefferson B. Sessions III, Attorney General, United States Department of Justice Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 7 OFFICIAL HEARING RECORD Questions for the record submitted to The Honorable Jefferson B. Session ...... 92 (III) VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Oct 20, 2018 Jkt 032380 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 E:\HR\OC\A380.XXX A380 dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with HEARING VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Oct 20, 2018 Jkt 032380 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 E:\HR\OC\A380.XXX A380 dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with HEARING OVERSIGHT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2017 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to call, at 10:03 a.m., in Room 2141, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Bob Goodlatte [chair- man of the committee] presiding. Present: Representatives Goodlatte, Sensenbrenner, Smith, Chabot, Issa, King, Franks, Gohmert, Jordan, Poe, Marino, Gowdy, Labrador, Farenthold, Collins, DeSantis, Buck, Ratcliffe, Bishop, Roby, Gaetz, Johnson of Louisiana, Biggs, Rutherford, Handel, Conyers, Nadler, Lofgren, Jackson Lee, Cohen, Johnson of Georgia, Deutch, Gutie´rrez, Bass, Richmond, Jeffries, Cicilline, Swalwell, Lieu, Raskin, Jayapal, and Schneider. Staff Present: Shelley Husband, Staff Director; Branden Ritchie, Deputy Staff Director; Zach Somers, Parliamentarian and General Counsel; Bobby Parmiter, Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice; Perry Apelbaum, Minority Chief Counsel, Chief of Staff, and Staff Director; Danielle Brown, Minor- ity Parliamentarian and Chief Legislative Counsel; Aaron Hiller, Minority Chief Oversight Counsel; Joe Graupensperger, Minority Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Se- curity, and Investigations; Monalisa Dugue, Minority Deputy Chief Counsel, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations; David Greengrass, Minority Counsel; Maunica Sthanki, Minority Counsel; Arya Hariharan, Minority Counsel; and Veronica Eligan, Minority Professional Staff Member. Chairman GOODLATTE. The Judiciary Committee will come to order. And, without objection, the chair is authorized to declare re- cesses of the committee at any time. We welcome everyone to this morning’s hearing on oversight of the Department of Justice. I will begin by recognizing myself for an opening statement. Good morning. Today, we welcome Attorney General Jeff Ses- sions for the Judiciary Committee’s annual Department of Justice oversight hearing. Mr. Attorney General, you have a long and distinguished career in public service. You’ve continued that service by leading the De- partment of Justice, an agency that, by its very nature, is prone to controversy because of the public’s varied opinions on what it seeks to see—what it means to seek and obtain justice. However, (1) VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Oct 20, 2018 Jkt 032380 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\HR\OC\A380.XXX A380 dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with HEARING 2 you clearly understand that the department you lead must have the confidence of the American people, even when your decisions are not always well-received. Your first year leading the Department of Justice has not been without difficulty, which is expected at the outset of a new admin- istration. While much has been done to correct the improper polit- ical engagement by the Department of Justice under the Obama administration, more work must be done to ensure the Department is operating to impartially administer justice. Our last DOJ oversight hearing was beyond disappointing. Attor- ney General Loretta Lynch gave the least fulsome and least trans- parent testimony that I can recall in my time in Congress. It was plainly a disservice to the American people. Ms. Lynch failed to re- spond substantively to nearly every question posed by members of this committee. Before Ms. Lynch, former Attorney General Eric Holder became the first Attorney General in history to be held in contempt by the House of Representatives for his own stonewalling with regard to documents connected to the reckless operation Fast and Furious. I expect, Mr. Attorney General, that you will be more willing to candidly answer questions from members on both sides of the aisle. You are going to hear question after question today concerning your knowledge of or involvement with Russia and its alleged ef- forts to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election. Whether it con- cerns your work on behalf of now-President Trump during the cam- paign or your service in the Senate, I suspect this theme will be a constant refrain from my friends on the other side of the aisle. While I understand your decision to recuse yourself was an effort by you to do the right thing, I believe you, as a person of integrity, would have been impartial and fair in following the facts wherever they led. I have chosen, as chairman of this committee, to let Special Counsel Robert Mueller do his job, free from undue political influ- ence. At the same time, however, this committee will do its duty and conduct oversight of the Department of Justice. To that end, we sent two letters to you, one in July and another in September, calling on you to name a second special counsel to restore the public’s confidence in our justice system. Numerous matters connected to the 2016 election remain unresolved. To date, the Department has not appointed a second special counsel. Consequently, this committee had no choice but to open our own joint investigation with the House Oversight and Government Re- form Committee to review DOJ and FBI’s handling of the inves- tigation into former Secretary Hillary Clinton and her mishandling of classified information. As we said earlier this year, it is incumbent on this committee, in its oversight capacity, to ensure that the agencies we oversee are above reproach and that the Justice Department, in particular, re- mains immune to accusations of politicization. Whoever is Attorney General, the Justice Department must evenhandedly administer justice. You have recused yourself from matters stemming from the 2016 election, but there are significant concerns that the partisanship of the FBI and the Department has weakened the ability of each to VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:38 Oct 20, 2018 Jkt 032380 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\HR\OC\A380.XXX A380 dlhill on DSK3GLQ082PROD with HEARING 3 act objectively. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this and what steps you are taking to remove politics from law enforcement. However, these investigations are but a few of the many impor- tant issues we need to discuss today. For instance, we just over- whelmingly reported the USA Liberty Act out of committee last week. This bipartisan legislation would reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The administration has chosen to oppose any reform of the law. I understand the desire for a clean reauthorization of this vital pro- gram. However, I believe this stance is a miscalculation that risks further eroding trust in our intelligence apparatus. We hope we can work with you, now that the USA Liberty Act, which reauthorizes a law that is vital to our Nation’s battle against terrorism while protecting American civil
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