Chuck Grassley Leads Senate Judiciary Committee Business Meeting On Pending Nominees And Legislation

[00:00:00]Uh the situation is this. We're starting at 9:00 because there's a commerce committee meeting that's very important at 10:00.

[00:00:14]Uh and all the Republicans can't be here until 9:30.

[00:00:19]So we have only have a window of 9:30 to 10:00 to get our uh through our nominations.

[00:00:28]Uh we have three important bills on the committee. I'll try to work them in if we get a quorum work them in before we do the nominations, but you know, we haven't met for uh three weeks because we've had attendance problems and there's a lot of work for this committee to do. And uh and I uh when I say there's uh tendance problems, that's been more of a problem on my side of the aisle than it has been on the Democrat side of the aisle.

[00:01:03]Uh today's agenda, we have eight nominations and three bills.

[00:01:09]Uh two circuit court nominees. Benjamin Flowers, sixth circuit. Matthew Schwarz, second circuit. will vote on four district court nominees. Michael Hendershot, Northern District, Ohio. Arthur Jones, Southern District, Texas. Jeffrey Kun, Southern District, Florida. John Mark, Southern District, Texas. And then we'll also vote on Don Berthu Yum to be inspector general of the justice department and Sean Costello to serve as US attorney for the southern district of Alabama.

[00:01:54]Uh three bills, sunshine in the courtroom, cameras in the courtroom act, and the no fakes act.

[00:02:05]uh six judicial nominees on today's agenda I I feel are highly qualified.

[00:02:12]They each have strong credentials, a long stunnanding commitment to the rule of law. They're going to make fine federal judges. Our other nominees are exceptional as well.

[00:02:25]I encourage my colleagues to join me in voting. Uh we're also voting on two bills which I and ranking member Durban introduced this Congress. Uh they uh I won't go into detail about it but it means uh cameras in the courtroom.

[00:02:46]Our third uh bill, no fakes, is the result of a lot of hard work by Senator Blackburn and Senator Coons. And uh uh Senator Coons and Blackburn have been on me for a long time to get this bill on the agenda. So I'm uh they they'd like to move that today as well.

[00:03:07]Uh it's all about protecting individuals from the exploitation by others using AI generated digital replicas of themselves.

[00:03:18]Uh as I said at last week's hearing, senators tell me they want to retain the blue slip practice and obviously I agree with that. But very often these senators conduct is destructive of the very institution they claim they want to protect. The practice of becoming more [clears throat] untenable as senators fail to work with the White House in good faith to secure district courts and US attorneys.

[00:03:49]This week, President Trump announced that he wouldn't proceed with the new uh director of intelligence or approval of FISA until he gets the US attorneys in the Southern District of New York. And I'd suggest to President Trump that he ought to be working with Senator Thun on the agenda for the United States Senate instead of uh standing in the way. For more than a year, Senator Schumer refused to return a blue slip or consider the highly qualified nominee that the president puts forth. Senator Schumer has also refused to consider any nominee for other US attorney or district court seats [snorts] in New York. In fact, Senator Schumer refused to even meet with the administration to find a path forward. He's never responded to their proposals or negotiated any of these uh vacancies.

[00:04:45]Uh this is not sustainable. I don't think it's in good faith. Democrats expect Republicans to adhere to the president and norms while at the same time, it seems to me, uh undermining them in the process. Um during the first Trump and Biden administration, senators from opposing parties returned hundreds of blue slips for district court and US attorney nominees. But during this second term of Trump, they've been few and far between. And let's not forget that for the first time in recorded history, Senate Democrats still haven't allowed a single civilian nominee to be confirmed by voice votes and unanimous consents. In doing so, they wasted valuable floor time that could have been addressed with legislating meeting the needs of the American people. I uh know some of my colleagues, including some on this committee, have worked with the White House in good faith to fill vacancies. I know some others have tried and I thank those who have engaged in good faith and urge them to continue their efforts and particularly urge colleagues of their caucus to do the same thing. If I can be helpful and to resolve an impass, I would be happy to work in that direction. Our Senate practices and norms will only survive if there's good faith on all sides. I'm urging all colleagues in the Senate to put an end to the obstruction. If the blue slip practice is going to continue, and it's going to continue as long as I'm chairman, and so many of my colleagues have also insisted that, Senate Democrats must stop bad faith obstructions, and I hope they can do it right now. Senator White House, thanks very much. Uh, chairman, I'm in this uh seat this morning because um Illinois Senator Durban uh was a close friend of Illinois Senator Obama and then US President Obama.

[00:07:04]And today, in a star-studded celebration, the Obama Presidential Library is going to open. and uh Senator Durban very very much wanted to be there. I think he is exactly where he should be. Um and that leaves me to fill in for him today.

[00:07:25]I'd like to take my time this morning to suggest that combining our oversight hearing of the Department of Justice with the nominations hearing for acting attorney general Blanch would be a grave mistake [snorts] for the committee. I don't believe we did that with Attorney General Garland.

[00:07:56]And I think the record of the Department of Justice uh under Todd Blanch lends itself to very vigorous oversight.

[00:08:09]oversight which we have been denied.

[00:08:12]Because when we ask questions, we get scripted litinies of insult and quarrel rather than actual answers to our questions. When we ask for documents and records in writing, we get nothing. Uh we are reduced to filing foyer requests that are then not even complied with as FOYA requests.

[00:08:38]So the oversight function of this committee [clears throat] is really I think being systematically disabled.

[00:08:47]That's particularly significant when you have Attorney General Bondi saying that it was uh Todd Blanch who was responsible for the Epstein files disaster, the releases of private information and images of victims, the cover up of documents that named Donald Trump, and just the general incompetence of the whole wretched mess.

[00:09:20]I don't think that it would be a good idea for this committee to be complicit in covering up the cover up of the Epstein files.

[00:09:34]move on to the slush fund, which a great number of my Republican colleagues have expressed real reservations about with its attachment of a tax amnesty deal for Trump, the Trump family, and the Trump businesses.

[00:09:52]There are very legitimate questions to be asked about that, including has that cockami idea really been withdrawn or is it just being hidden briefly so it can resurface in some other fashion.

[00:10:09]We should be looking into this as a committee. It's important stuff.

[00:10:15]And even if we sherk our duties at looking into all of this, it appears that a Florida court is going to be looking into all of this. And I think it's a bad look for the committee to be turning a blind eye to what went into the slush fund deal and the tax amnesty deal and then discover through a court proceeding in Florida all the stuff that we failed to look at. It's hard to be taken seriously if we have failed to do our own duty and then the court proceedings reveal the mischief. I will say that I've looked I have never ever heard of senior officials of the Department of Justice being called before a court with respect to a fraud upon the court.

[00:11:12]Look up fraud upon a court. It's a pretty serious charge. This one was brought raised I guess I should say by 36 three dozen retired federal judges.

[00:11:24]Some very very respected ones, some very very conservative ones.

[00:11:30]And the judge in the proceeding in Florida out of which the slush fund settlement emerged reopened the case to have a look.

[00:11:40]She asked for responses.

[00:11:45]She suggested that the DOJ might have violated its own policies in the settlement.

[00:11:51]She suggested that there was an IRS defense memo out there that would be relevant to the proceedings.

[00:12:01]The violation of DOJ policies would obviously be a matter for DOJ to answer.

[00:12:07]The IRS client memo would obviously be something for DOJ to answer. She also questioned whether there was collusion.

[00:12:17]It takes two to collude. It would be a collusion between the Department of Justice lawyers and Trump's private lawyers.

[00:12:26]So there's another reason for the Department of Justice to have responded.

[00:12:31]What happened last Friday? No response from the Department of Justice. first ever accusation of senior level department of justice people of fraud upon the court with an invitation to rebut the allegations an invitation specific to department of justice conduct and they duck so that is going to continue the three dozen judges have their answer this Friday and then the court will go forward I will contend that we don't look like much if That information is being developed in a federal courtroom and we haven't been allowed to ask questions and indeed our oversight has been collapsed into a confirmation hearing. I have never seen a Department of Justice as badly run as this one.

[00:13:20]I've never seen fraud upon the court allegations. I've never seen so many suggestions of contempt. I've never seen so many no true bills. I've never s seen so many cases thrown out. I've never seen so many accusations that department arguments were false, were pretextual, were designed to fool rather than inform the court. And we see that over and over again from judges appointed by every president. It is now at the point where the Department of Justice and the US government have lost their presumption of regularity in federal court proceedings.

[00:13:54]All of this matters.

[00:13:56]All of this is something to which this committee should be paying attention.

[00:14:01]And with respect to what our chairman has said about the norms of the committee, well, one norm is that US attorneys come through this committee after a process of consultation before they get to run US attorney's office. Over and over again, we see these slippery deals where acting US attorneys are appointed and then the first assistant is fired and when the time runs out on the acting uh US attorney, they slip back into the first attorney position and leave a vacancy.

[00:14:42]It's an obvious scam to get around this committee's norms and we have put up with this. It didn't happen once. It didn't happen twice. It has happened over and over and over and over again. And on top of that, we've seen US attorneys called out for misconduct over and over and over again. None of this is normal.

[00:15:07]None of this is normal. And the fact that this committee won't look into it, I think is a shame. And I think if we try to be complicit in failing in our duty to look into this by combining the Blanch nomination hearing with the Department of Justice oversight hearing, we will have made a very, very grave mistake. Thank you, Chairman. I'm not I'm only going to respond to the process question you brought up, not the other issues you brought up. But I'd like to remind you that you mentioned Garland as attorney general. There were eight months between his nomination and the first hearing. You got to realize that there's only four weeks we meet in July.

[00:15:54]There's two weeks we meet in September.

[00:15:58]That's six weeks between now and the election. You got to realize, and I'm not running the Senate, so I do don't determine the calendar of the Senate, but we basically only have three days a week. So that's 18 days between now and the election. And uh that's why we have to combine the oversight with the others. and we're going to accommodate it by giving members on your side all the time you need to ask questions. Uh we're negotiating that now and we'll try to accommodate you as much as we can.

[00:16:37]But with only 18 days, you can see that we can't have eight months between the nomination and and the confirmation or the uh oversight hearing.

[00:16:49]Well, I know that the uh chairman is um sympathetic to the oversight problems that we face here and the degree to which this department's behavior is exceptional. And um I look forward to um having those hearings go forward in a way that reflects uh the chairman's consistent desires for real oversight.

[00:17:10]And I hope that the uh proceedings reflect uh that. You know, when I came to the United States Senate, we started at 10:00 on Monday morning and we went till 4 on Friday. Now, it seems to me both Republicans and Democrats like a three-day work week. There's plenty of problems for or there's plenty of work for an individual senator to do seven days a week if they want to work seven days a week. But you can't solve this country's problems if you don't get a hundred of us together at one time. And that's whether you got a a Democrat majority or Republican majority. That's the way it's been. We got to put in more time here in Washington DC meeting if you want to do what you want to do.

[00:17:55]>> No objection to those thoughts. Okay. Uh I think we better go to your bill. Uh while we're waiting for a majority, I uh we're going we're going to take up the stuff that I've got most pressure to work on Coons and and so we're going to go ahead with her bill. Let me uh let me start out that before you do. The next bill is S4591, no fakes. This bill is led by Senator Coons and Senator Blackburn. I understand there's a manager amendment.

[00:18:32]I'll now call up the manager's amendment number EHF26528.

[00:18:39]Without objection, it will be adopted. I hear no objection. If there if there is any of the bill sponsors would like to speak, uh do it quickly.

[00:18:52]>> Senator K.

[00:18:56]>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and um thank you to Senator Blackburn. I'm deeply grateful uh to Senators Blackburn uh and Tillis and Clolobashar to Senator Blackburn and her staff for a strong partnership at every step. We have had so many negotiating sessions, stakeholder meetings, uh redline conversations, literally dozens of them.

[00:19:17]Um and I'm grateful for the support this bill has from many colleagues on this committee. Ranking member Durban, Senators Blumenthal, Britt, Herono, Moody, Welch, and Schiff as co-sponsors.

[00:19:27]This bill is about protecting what's most personal to us, what makes us us, our voice and our likeness. Every American should have the right to decide how their voice and likeness will be used, especially when generative AI can create highly realistic digital replicas that make it look like we said things we never said and did things we never did.

[00:19:48]No Fakes gives every American a new intellectual property right to control their digital replica, to license it as they wish, to allow their families to protect it after they pass, and to stop unauthorized replicas from proliferating online. This bill creates a workable notice and takeown system so we can enforce this right. If online platforms take down unauthorized deep fakes, everyone wins. If online if they don't, the online platforms are exposed to financial penalties. The bill also reigns in the use of AI models that exist largely to create unauthorized deep fakes. I want to be clear, no fakes includes features that protect free speech, parody, satire, documentaries, biopics, newscasts. They're all protected and we built in appropriate counter notification processes and exempted research libraries and archives. This important bipartisan bill is the product of real compromise between stakeholders on all sides. It has enthusiastic support from across the movie, music and television industries, from online platforms, from YouTube to Tik Tok, from AI companies like OpenAI and IBM, from organized labor and child safety groups. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to submit for the record supportive quotes from 40 different organizations who often don't see eye to eye on much of anything, all supporting this bill.

[00:21:06]>> Without objection, so order.

[00:21:08]>> And if I could conclude, um, did everyone get what they wanted? No. But we did work to build support and it would not have happened without my chief counsel James Barton who was tireless, engaged and effective and with the real partnership with my Republican co-leads.

[00:21:22]Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[00:21:23]>> Senator Blackburn.

[00:21:24]>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I am so pleased we are finally moving forward with the no fakes act and as Senator Kun has said this has been a bipartisan effort and lot of work has gone into it and it is imperative that we put this national standard in place for voice and visual likeness protection of creators. Every American needs this to protect from proliferation of harmful AI generated deep fakes that are created without their consent. From artists and songwriters to students and everyday citizens, our nation deserves meaningful protections against deep fakes. Our bill would establish clear guard rails that protect our creators in Tennessee and indeed nationwide. In addition to establishing a federal intellectual property right in every American's voice and visual likeness, we also provide a clear notice and take down framework as well as safe harbor provisions for companies that comply. These provisions ensure that when a platform receives a proper notice of a deep fake, that platform must promptly remove or disable access to that harmful content. If they promptly remove the content, they won't face liability under the bill. We've included explicit First Amendment protections in this bill. For example, we have excluded commentary, criticism, scholarship, satire, and parody content from being removed, as well as news and sports broadcast material.

[00:23:14]Additionally, Senator Kun and I and our teams have worked for months with some of our key stakeholders to come up with this compromised managers amendment that we'll be advancing this morning. And what came out of those negotiations was a counternotice framework that I believe has made the bill stronger under the new provision. Someone who believes a platform took down their content inappropriately. For example, if the content was not actually a deep fake or if it was first amendment protected, can have their content placed back online.

[00:23:56]Both the creative community and the platforms had to make compromises. I believe it's a stronger bill in the end.

[00:24:04][snorts] I've always said that America needs one set of rules for AI and no fakes is a critical component of that rule book. Every American has an article one section 8 clause 8 constitutional right to benefit from their creative works. and the No Fakes Act allows for just that in the age of AI. I want to thank Senator Coons and his team for their partnership on the effort as well as the bipartisan coalition of co-sponsors.

[00:24:40]We've assembled a robust group of outside supporters and Mr. Chairman, I have letters to submit for the record from the Creative Artist Agency, the Broadcasters Association of all 50 states, the Human Artistry Campaign, the American Medical Association, and an open letter of support from SAG ARA signed by over 16,000 individuals. I look forward to a very strong bipartisan voice vote in advancing this legislation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[00:25:16]>> Before I call on Senator Lee, uh I would like to get this bill done, but just as soon as we get all the people here, we're going to stop for nominations.

[00:25:27]Uh Senator Lee, >> thanks, Mr. Chairman. Um [clears throat] I want to thank Senator Blackburn and Senator Coons for their leadership on this and um this is an important issue.

[00:25:39]A person's voice and likeness are both valuable assets. Artists uh performers, content creators of u of every sort have legitimate interests um financial interests, reputational interests in controlling how those assets, things that belong to them are used. and they deserve protection against theft, against fraud and unauthorized use u uh especially uh the the type of commercial exploitation that can happen can be really problematic. Now the legislation as drafted now raises some potentially significant concerns regarding free speech. But we do need to ensure that in protecting uh in protecting content content creators rights that we don't inadvertently chill free speech or undermine long-standing uh first amendment principles. So I uh my plan is to support the bill today uh and uh look forward to working with Senator Blackburn uh to address these concerns before they hit the floor. that do need to be addressed, but I'm happy to move it out of committee today and support it in that process. With that understanding, thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[00:26:52]Thanks, Senator.

[00:26:54]>> Well, thank you very much, uh, Mr. Chairman and, uh, Senator Tillis and I, uh, worked together with the leaders of this bill, uh, Senator Coons and Senator Blackburn, and I want to thank them, uh, from the very beginning. This builds on uh some of the work that Senator Cruz and I did on the Take It Down Act, which is now signed into law. And the provision requiring the platforms to take down non-consentual images in 48 hours, is now actually in effect uh as well as the increased penalties for the people that uh post uh the illegal uh images. And I think this is a huge step forward and a model that we should be using uh for in many contexts. And while this law that we did before, the no fakes act focused on the non-consensual um images um and puts the rules of the road to keep give people control over digital replicas of their voice and likeness. This goes to something that we know has been a real real problem. It's important we pass this bill because it is easier than ever to use AI tools to generate everything from images and videos, songs, recordings, and even Senate hearings. In fact, um, Senator Blackburn and I held a hearing on privacy that was actually a great subcommittee hearing.

[00:28:16]We walked out of there thinking, "This is so good. Maybe we can find a compromise on this." And a day later, I saw an image of myself and I thought, "Oh, wow." like this thing is getting so much attention. It was me and she was sitting next to me and my staff was behind me and it was actually an AI image. Now, that might have been considered parody. I didn't think it was very funny with what they said. Uh they somehow put me in the middle of the Sydney Sweeney Jeans campaign issue, but it was startling as I looked at my feed and finally the um platforms either took it down or put digitally altered on it.

[00:28:50]A number of people believed it. They believed I'd used language that I would never use in this hearing room. Uh they believed I said things that I would never say. And to me it was an example of how quickly these things can go viral. Um so what happened here and by the way if it is parody I believe it should I have another piece of legislation that says that it should say digitally altered. So technology led to incredible things. Last year we did an event, the four of us with Randy Travis, who lost his ability to sing um after having a stroke and using AI replicas of his own voice, he's been able to continue putting out music, but that's because it's his voice. It's his decision. Easy access to this technology has created real challenges that harm real people. Sony Music has identified more than 135,000 songs with unauthorized deep fakes on streaming services. So so much of what our country is based on and our innovation and our economy is based on ideas, innovation, people's intellectual products, their own creations. And if we mess around with this with AI and don't reward them for that, we're going to mess around with our entire economy. It isn't just artists. Consumers lost more than $3.5 billion dollars through impostor schemes. And so that's why this bill is so important. Everyone should have the right to privacy and the right to control their own voice and their own likeness. And I'll just end by thanking the consumer, artists, entertainment, labor, tech stakeholders uh that have come together to support this bill. You must know something's going right, Senator Blackburn, when you can announce that you have the American Medical Association and SAG Act supporting the same bill. It's just a usually these interests don't align on something. It's not like they're opposed, but it just shows the broad coalition that supports doing something about this challenging and growing problem. Thank you. before Senator Padilla and then Senator Cruz.

[00:30:55]Uh in if we get if we get everybody here on our side, we're going to I'm going to stop you in the middle of your speeches.

[00:31:03]Go ahead, Senator.

[00:31:04]>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh I want to begin by thanking Senator Senator Blackburn, and the many stakeholders who've worked so collaboratively to bring the No Fakes Act to this point, receiving a markup. The problem of unauthorized deep fakes that mislade, defraud, or otherwise harm both the individuals depicted as well as the public is urgent and demands a swift congressional response. I'm grateful for the hard work that everyone involved has put into this effort. Now, the bill before us today has substantively and substantially improved and I think reflects the care that the sponsors have taken to address a number of concerns regarding the implementation, innovation, and free expression online.

[00:31:50]There are still some issues that warrant additional attention to ensure that the obligations placed on the diverse stakeholders in our communications ecosystem including music streaming services, video game developers, user generated content platforms of all sizes and others uh ensuring that those are appropriately tailored and designed to achieve the bill's goals effectively.

[00:32:15]But because the process has been so collaborative, so constructive, and has been done in such good faith, I'm confident that we can continue working together to refine these provisions and ensure that the final legislation effectively combats harmful deep fakes while protecting innovation and free expression. I look forward to supporting this measure in committee here today.

[00:32:37]>> We'll now turn to the nomination of a Benjamin Flowers to serve as circuit judge for the US Circuit Court, sixth district.

[00:32:46]to speak.

[00:32:47]>> Thank you, chairman. Um, [clears throat] this is an extraordinarily ill- motivated uh candidate for the judiciary who has expressly said it's not his intention to follow the law, but rather to impose his view of what he calls traditional western values. He has derided textualism and indeed said, "A court that correctly decides cases on narrow grounds without upsetting long set but badly flawed precedents will not be much use.

[00:33:18]That is unacceptable for the conservative movement of today. In his own words, he will use his seat on the bench to impose trai his view of traditional western values to press for the conservative movement of today and will avoid and indeed seems to mock the notion of correctly deciding cases on narrow grounds. Textualism and minimalism used to be conservative values. This does not provide that.

[00:33:48]>> The clerk will call the role on flowers.

[00:33:51]>> Mr. Hi >> Mr. >> Hi >> Mr. Lee.

[00:33:55]>> Hi >> Mr. Cruz.

[00:33:56]>> Hi >> Mr. Hi >> Mr. Hi >> Mr. Kennedy >> Mrs. Blackford. Hi >> Mr. Smith.

[00:34:06]Hi >> Mrs. Mr. Durban.

[00:34:11]>> Uh Durban. No by proxy.

[00:34:14]>> Mr. White >> no >> Mr. >> No >> Mr. No by proxy, >> no by proxy, >> Mr. Booker.

[00:34:25]>> No by proxy, >> Mr. Pia.

[00:34:27]>> No, >> Mr. Welch.

[00:34:28]>> No, >> Mr. Ship.

[00:34:30]>> No by proxy.

[00:34:32]>> Chairman Grassley.

[00:34:33]>> Uh, I miss the 12.

[00:34:38]>> The nomination will be favorably reported.

[00:34:41]>> Now, Matthew Schwarz, >> see if Shiff wants to vote in person.

[00:34:45]>> Oh, hey, uh, Senator Schiff.

[00:34:49]Senator, >> you want to be voted in person?

[00:34:53]>> Uh, yes, please.

[00:34:54]>> Uh, Senator, >> uh, >> please record Senator Schiff as a no vote in person, not by proxy.

[00:35:00]>> Yeah.

[00:35:01]>> Uh, now we'll go to Matthew Schwarz unfavorably reporting the nomination.

[00:35:07]Clerk will call the role.

[00:35:08]>> Mr. Chairman, >> yes. I just want to flag for my colleagues that this individual represents President Trump personally in his appeal of the 34 felony convictions for falsifying business records related to his payments to Stormmy Daniels and also in the $464 million judgment against Trump and his family members and his business for inflated value of business assets. The president still owes the firm $400,000 evidently and [clears throat] notwithstanding the chairman's comments earlier about following norms, no blue slip from either of the New York senators. I urge a no vote.

[00:35:47]>> The clerk will call the role on Schwarz.

[00:35:50]>> Mr. Grant, >> I >> [laughter] >> Mr. >> uh no by proxy >> Mr. White House >> no >> no [clears throat] >> Mr. >> No >> Mr. >> No by proxy >> Mr. >> No by proxy >> Mr. Booker >> no by proxy >> Mr. >> No >> Mr. Welch >> no >> Mr. I >> Schwarz will be favorably reported the floor. Now Hendry Michael Hendershot uh Northern District of Ohio. The clerk will call the role.

[00:36:48]>> Mr. Graham.

[00:36:49]>> Hi.

[00:36:49]>> Mr. >> Hi.

[00:36:51]>> Mr. Lee.

[00:36:51]>> Hi.

[00:36:52]>> Mr. Cruz.

[00:36:53]>> Hi.

[00:36:54]>> Mr. Holly.

[00:36:55]>> Mr. Tis.

[00:36:56]>> Mr. Kennedy.

[00:36:58]Blackber Mr. Smith Mrs. Hi Mrs. >> Mr. Der >> no by proxy >> Mr. White House >> no >> Mr. >> No >> Mr. >> No by proxy >> Mr. >> No by proxy >> Mr. Booker >> no by proxy >> Mr. Pia >> no >> Mr. Welch >> no >> Mr. I >> nomination be favorably reported. Now Arthur Jones, District of Southern District, Texas, clerk will call the role.

[00:37:39]>> Mr. >> Hi, >> Mr. Corn.

[00:37:42]>> Hi, >> Mr. Lee.

[00:37:43]>> Hi, >> Mr. Cruz.

[00:37:45]>> Hi, >> Mr. Hi, >> Mr. Tis.

[00:37:48]>> Hi, >> Mr. Kennedy.

[00:37:49]>> Hi, >> Mrs. Blackford.

[00:37:51]>> Hi, >> Mr. Smith.

[00:37:53]>> Hi, >> Mrs. Mrs. Hi >> Mr. >> No by proxy >> Mr. White House.

[00:38:01]>> No >> no >> Mr. >> No >> Mr. >> No by proxy >> Mr. >> No by proxy >> Mr. Cooker >> no by proxy >> Mr. >> No >> Mr. Welsh >> no >> Mr. I >> Arthur Jones will be favorably reported.

[00:38:24]Now we go to Jeffrey Coz, Southern District of Florida. Clerk will call the role.

[00:38:30]>> Mr. Graham.

[00:38:30]>> Hi.

[00:38:31]>> Mr. Corn.

[00:38:32]>> Hi.

[00:38:32]>> Mr. Lee.

[00:38:33]>> Hi.

[00:38:34]>> Mr. Cruz.

[00:38:35]>> Hi.

[00:38:36]>> Mr. >> Mr. Phillis.

[00:38:38]>> Hi.

[00:38:39]>> Mr. Kennedy.

[00:38:41]>> Mrs. Blackber.

[00:38:43]>> Mr. Smith.

[00:38:45]>> Mrs. Mrs. >> Mr. >> No by proxy.

[00:38:50]>> Mr. White House.

[00:38:50]>> No.

[00:38:52]>> No.

[00:38:54]>> Mr. >> No.

[00:38:56]>> Mr. >> No by proxy.

[00:38:58]>> Mr. >> No by proxy.

[00:39:00]>> Mr. Booker.

[00:39:01]>> No. By proxy.

[00:39:02]>> Mr. >> No.

[00:39:04]>> Mr. >> No.

[00:39:06]>> Mr. >> No.

[00:39:08]I >> Jeffrey Coun will be favorably rewarded.

[00:39:15]Now John Mark, Southern District, Texas.

[00:39:17]The clerk will call the role.

[00:39:19]>> Mr. >> Hi.

[00:39:21]>> Mr. >> Hi.

[00:39:23]>> Mr. Lee.

[00:39:24]>> Hi.

[00:39:24]>> Mr. Cruz.

[00:39:25]>> Hi.

[00:39:26]>> Mr. >> Mr. >> Mr. Kennedy.

[00:39:31]>> Mrs. Blackford.

[00:39:32]>> Hi, Mr. Smith.

[00:39:35]>> Mrs. Ms. Mr. >> No. By proxy.

[00:39:41]>> Mr. White House.

[00:39:42]>> No.

[00:39:45]>> No.

[00:39:46]>> Mr. >> No.

[00:39:51]>> Uh, no. By proxy.

[00:39:52]>> Mr. >> No by proxy.

[00:39:54]>> Mr. Booker.

[00:39:55]>> No by proxy.

[00:39:56]>> Mr. Mr. I >> John Mark will be favorably reported.

[00:40:09]Now Don Ber Stum uh to be inspector general of the Justice Department.

[00:40:14]Senator White House. I'm likely to be the only Democrat voting eye on this nominee, but he does have a record of uh integrity as an inspector general. Uh integrity is equality sorely lacking in this Department of Justice. And while I may uh find that I should be very disappointed in my vote here, I will be voting yes uh on this individual.

[00:40:35]>> Clerk will call the role.

[00:40:37]>> Mr. >> Hi.

[00:40:38]>> Mr. >> Hi.

[00:40:39]>> Mr. >> Hi.

[00:40:41]>> Mr. Cruz.

[00:40:42]>> Hi.

[00:40:42]>> Mr. >> Mr. Hi >> Mr. Kennedy.

[00:40:56]>> Mr. Mr. Smith, >> Mrs. Hi, Mrs. >> Mr. >> No. By proxy, >> Mr. White House.

[00:41:03]>> Hi, >> M.

[00:41:05]>> No.

[00:41:06]>> Mr. >> No.

[00:41:08]>> Mr. >> No.

[00:41:11]>> Mr. >> Hi. By proxy.

[00:41:14]>> Mr. Hooker.

[00:41:16]>> No. By proxy.

[00:41:17]>> Mr. >> No.

[00:41:19]>> Mr. Welch.

[00:41:20]>> No.

[00:41:21]>> Mr. Ship.

[00:41:22]>> No.

[00:41:23]>> Chairman Grassley.

[00:41:24]>> I The eyes are 14 and are nine.

[00:41:28]>> Don Berthume will be reported now. Sean Costello, a US Attorney, Southern District, Alabama.

[00:41:36]>> Mr. Chairman, may I say a few words?

[00:41:38]>> Yes.

[00:41:39]>> Uh, thank you very much. I just wanted to say a few words in support of Sean Costello's nomination to be US attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.

[00:41:48]Uh, look, he has been serving this district for over 20 years. During that time, he's rose through the ranks as the chief of the criminal division in 2018, and he's been serving as the interim US attorney since 2021. Prior to his time in office, he served for several years here at Maine justice um in DC. He was also a legislative aid to both senators, uh Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions.

[00:42:11]During his time as a federal prosecutor, he has tried 28 cases to final verdict and has pursued cases on a wide range of criminal conduct, including child exploitation, national security, terrorism, drug trafficking, human trafficking, [clears throat] and corporate fraud. Shawn has devoted his entire career to public service and working on the behalf of the people of Alabama and the Southern District.

[00:42:35]Senator Tubberville and I were proud to recommend him to President Trump for this nomination and I urge my colleagues for a yes vote. Thank you.

[00:42:42]>> Call the roll.

[00:42:44]>> Mr. Graham.

[00:42:45]>> Hi.

[00:42:46]>> Mr. >> Hi.

[00:42:47]>> Mr. Lee.

[00:42:48]>> Hi.

[00:42:48]>> Mr. Cruz.

[00:42:49]>> Hi.

[00:42:50]>> Mr. >> Hi, >> Mr. Tis.

[00:42:54]>> Hi, >> Mr. Kennedy.

[00:42:55]>> Hi, >> Mrs. Blackford. Hi, >> Mr. Smith.

[00:42:59]>> Hi, >> Mrs. Hi. Hi, >> Mr. I by proxy >> Mr. White House >> I >> Mr. >> Hi >> Mr. >> No >> Mto >> no by proxy >> no by proxy >> no >> Mr. I >> Sean Costello be reported. Now I call on Senator Cruz and then Senator Welch and then we'll vote on the Blackburn bill.

[00:43:40]>> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to commend Senator Blackburn and Senator Coons for this hard work on this bill.

[00:43:45]The topic is is certainly an important topic. The constitution itself uh establishes for the protection of intellectual property and and AI is ushering in new eras uh with the potential of theft uh and deception that that we are going to need to be vigilant fighting against. Uh that being said, I also want to associate myself with Senator Lee's comments. Um legislating in this area is complicated and and fraught with peril. Uh, I'm going to support this bill to move it out of committee, but I have concerns on the First Amendment side. And and so, uh, I hope the the authors of this bill are willing to work with Senator Lee and me to make sure that we are protecting legitimate First Amendment speech, that we are protecting satire, which is an important part of speech. I I think of uh I think of the ads Spencer Pratt ran in the LA uh campaign which uh I thought were hysterical and and I think are a good example of what should be protected and not fall within uh a bill like this.

[00:44:48]And so uh with with the hope and understanding that we can work together to make sure we are protecting legitimate free speech uh I I will go along with the the committee moving this bill forward. I apologize to Senator Coons. I forgot to mention you as the lead sponsor, Senator Welch, and then Senator Shiff, and [clears throat] then we'll vote.

[00:45:08]>> Uh, thank you very much, uh, Mr. Chairman, and I thank my colleagues and the sponsors of this legislation. U, my colleague, uh, in our state representative or our US representative in Congress, Becca Balon, uh, had a deep fake experience similar to what Senator Clolobachar described, and it was pretty appalling. It was her image. It was her voice. It was not her words. It was not satire. It was asserting through her mouth positions that she absolutely and completely is against. And there was no indication that this was uh AI enhanced.

[00:45:53]And the reality of the world we live in is that it is very difficult for people to see that this is a fake. But this was a fake. Uh and it is was totally and completely realistic. Uh so the no fakes act I believe is necessary to protect truth, identity and creativity. So, I'm happy to be a co-sponsor, but I think that none of us can underestimate the perils of what happens when image and likeness is appropriated illegally now uh to create confusion and chaos. Thank you, >> Senator Schiff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[00:46:37]I want to offer my strong support for the No Fakes Act today. Throughout my time in Congress, I've proudly represented the creative capital of the world. And I've always believed that our creative economy and hundreds of thousands of hardworking people behind it deserve strong protections for their talents, voices, and likeness which make up the foundation of their livelihoods.

[00:46:57]But in the advent of AI, those livelihoods as well as the identities of everyday Americans are under threat. The rapid advancement of generative AI has brought incredible innovation, but it's also unleashed a wave of unauthorized exploitation. We see this in the voices and visual likenesses of individuals from celebrities to children being replicated and weaponized without their permission and sometimes uh without their knowledge. That is why I've long supported the No Fakes Act. This legislation backed by a wide coalition establishes a clear federal right protecting all individuals from unauthorized digital replicas. The performers and voice actors who power a country's greatest cultural export deserve to know that their faces and voices won't be used to replace them. In order to protect human creativity and prevent against worse uh exploitation, I urge my colleagues to support this bill and I yield back. I'm going to assume that there's no amendments.

[00:47:55]>> Mr. Chairman, >> go ahead.

[00:47:58]>> I just want to very briefly um as similar to Senator Lee and Senator Cruz with some First Amendment concerns, but willing to vote it out of committee.

[00:48:05]Senator Blackburn and her team is assured that she'll work with us and I I appreciate that. Thanks.

[00:48:09]>> Yeah. I'm going to assume no amendments and the sponsor said we could do it by voice vote.

[00:48:16]>> Correct. We are satisfied with a voice vote.

[00:48:18]>> Yeah. Those in favor say I.

[00:48:21]>> I. I >> oppose. No. The eyes have it without a doubt and the bill is reported. We now go to the cameras in the courtroom legislation.

[00:48:33]Uh sunshine in the courtroom act is the title of the bill. Uh reintroduced this year with Senator Clolobachar. Thank you, Senator Clolobachar. Uh co-sponsored by Durban, Blumenthal, and Cornin. The bill grants the presiding judge in all federal courts with the discretion to allow cameras in their courtrooms. It contains provisions to protect the identity of witnesses and jurors and it prohibits coverage of private conversations. This legislation addresses a longstanding need. And I want to give you an example of the Lockerby bombing in 1988. The terrorists detonated a bomb on an international flight headed for Detroit. 259 people were killed. Years later, the District Court in DC denied victims requests to access court proceedings remotely, noting that it was prohibited from doing so under federal law. It took an act to Congress in 2024 to ensure that victims in that case could remotely access the trial proceedings. Denial of access shouldn't be the default. The public has a significant interest in many cases at the state level. Uh Erica Kirk, as an example, has advocated for cameras in the courtroom at the trial of her husband's murder. Uh and the public has a right to see justice prevail in this case as well as the families involved.

[00:50:06]My bill would provide the same transparency that Erica Kirk seeks. But at the federal level, in this case, it's common sense. It's long overdue. I encourage my colleagues to support the bill. Senator Cloberchar, would you like to speak?

[00:50:22]>> Yes, I would. I want to thank you for your leadership, Chairman Grassly, um, and for listing this bill to expand public access to federal court proceedings. I'd also like to thank Senators Durban, Blumenthal, and Cornin for co-sponsoring. And I'm also a strong supporter of Senator Durban's bill. Just this month, we celebrated 40 years of C-SPAN. And when it started, everyone was scared. They thought they would look bad on TV. Maybe they did, maybe they didn't. But they now, for us, it is a fixture. People should have the right to see what's going on uh when senators are debating the important issues of our time. The same is true particularly of the Supreme Court. Uh that's why the two bills we are voting on is so important.

[00:51:06]I'm especially focused on the Supreme Court bill because I think just having a few you know the audio available or some live streams here and there isn't the same. Um many of us have attended these hearings. It's an extraordinary experience and you shouldn't have to come to Washington to be able to do that. The bill, I will note, and I'll end with this, provides safeguards for jurors, witnesses, and the parties involved. Um, the bill prohibits the broadcasting of any juror during a trial or during jury selection. It also provides judges discretion in the trial piece of this to obscure the identity of witnesses. And the bill prevents the presiding judge from allowing media coverage entirely if doing so would violate the due prophecies of the rights of the parties involved. And I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.

[00:51:58]Thank you.

[00:51:59]>> Senator White House.

[00:52:00]>> I just wanted to note with uh Senator Durban away today that he was a leader in the development of this bill and would like to put a statement into the record in support of it.

[00:52:12]>> Thank you. Without objection will report the bill voice vote. Those in favor of reporting the bill say I.

[00:52:20]>> I.

[00:52:20]>> Oppose say no.

[00:52:23]>> The eyes have it by a big shot. So bills reported. Uh >> see this is the kind of thing you could capture on video in court cases.

[00:52:32][laughter] >> Okay.

[00:52:33]>> Yeah.

[00:52:33]>> These moments. The next one's cameras in the courtroom uh reintroduced uh with uh Senator Durban, co-sponsored by Clolobachar and Blumenthal. Like the first bill, this is common sense legislation that promotes transparency in our judicial system. Specifically, it instructs the US Supreme Court to permit television coverage of the proceedings that are already open to the public. But the bill restricts coverage for specific cases if a majority of the Supreme Court votes that it should violate due process. The public has a right to observe the cases before the highest court. Indeed, Supreme Court decisions have national importance and they affect the lives of every American. This legislation ensures access to all Americans, even those who may not have resources to travel Washington DC. and observe the uh uh court in person. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill. Uh do you want to speak for Senator Durban?

[00:53:39]>> Yes. Again, Senator Durban was a leader in the development of this legislation as well, and I ask that his statement be put into the record.

[00:53:46]>> Since I hear nobody wanting to speak, without objection, we'll report this bill by voice vote. Unfavorably reporting. All favors say I.

[00:53:55]>> I.

[00:53:56]>> Oppose say no.

[00:53:58]It's uh overwhelmingly reported out [laughter] uh meet meeting a jur