Spoke on the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"The one-year anniversary of Jim Comey's firing might well be permitted to pass without notice. But little did we know at the time that it would be part of a relentless and repeated denunciation of professional law enforcement at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, at the Department of Justice, even at the C.I.A. and law enforcement agencies all around the country. This concerted and coordinated attack on the F.B.I. and the Department of Justice is no accident. It is part of a strategy to undermine the credibility not only of the special counsel's investigation of conclusion by the Trump campaign with Russia in its meddling in the 2016 election and the potential obstruction of justice and cover-up by the president and his administration but also because it is deeply alarming as an attack on professional law enforcement."
"I've heard from some of my colleagues, and especially those on the other side of the aisle, that they believe Judge Brennan shouldn't have received a hearing before the Judiciary Committee. They say this because one senator from Wisconsin didn't return the blue slip. But their opinions are based on an incorrect understanding of the blue slip's history. As I explained last year several times on the Senate floor and several times in committee, the blue slip courtesy is just that. A courtesy. It has a history going back to 1970. Since then the chairmen of the Judiciary Committee have distributed blue slips to home state senators to get feedback on nominees to the federal bench in their respective states. Chairmen have applied the blue slip courtesy differently in its 100-year history. For the first 39 years of its existence, the blue slip had no bearing on whether a nominee went through the committee process."