Jamie Raskin Criticizes Trump's Mass Pardons Citing 97 Recipients Who Reoffended

that the chairman said, "Violence against law enforcement is wrong. I'm sick of it and we can't tolerate it." And I agree with that. But President Trump pardoned more than 1500 people, hundreds of whom had violently assaulted our police officers, brutalizing them, injuring them, giving them traumatic brain injuries, concussions, heart attacks, strokes, without looking at a single one's individualized records, just pardoning them, all of them mass. And guess what? 97 of them have already gone on to reaffend today. They've been convicted of so far child sexual assault, home invasion, production of child pornography, conspiracy to murder an FBI agent, kidnapping, reckless homicide, domestic violence by

strangulation, stalking. Okay, with that being said, I think we are next. I'm going to recognize the ranking member of the full committee. Thank you kindly, Mr. Chairman. I think you just went over 2 minutes and 25 seconds, so I'd appreciate a similar courtesy from my side. That means he's going to talk a lot. you've you've translated properly. Look, there's some things that we can all agree on here. Um, we should take violent attacks on the police extremely seriously and rejected in every circumstance. Mr. Macowski, you've spoken passionately against violent assault on the police. Um, do you think it's a good idea to pardon felons

convicted of violently assaulting police officers without looking at their individual criminal record or the threat that they may still pose to society? I'm sorry, Congressman. Can you just repeat the question? Do you think it's a good idea to pardon convicted felons who were convicted of violently assaulting police officers without consulting either their prior criminal history or the chances that they will reaffend? Um, sir, that's up to the courts. I don't you have no position on that? How about you, Mr. Delquart?

Do you think that's a good idea? That would be up to the court, sir. And it would be possibly a case-by case basis. Okay, Mr. Arthur, what do you think about that? Because it's a pardon, it's not actually up to the courts. It would be up to the uh executive in the state. Normally, I would argue against that, but I also think I know where your question's going. So, yes, I would oppose. All right, Mr. S. What do you think about pardoning violent offenders who attack the police, brutalizing them in many cases without consulting their prior criminal history or the chances that they'll reaffend? I think there has

to be a thorough review of the facts of a certain person's individualized review or just in general individualized review. Um you know I agree with uh clemency as a tool and executives should use clemency frequently but there has to be a review that the chairman said violence against law enforcement is wrong. I'm sick of it and we can't tolerate it. And I agree with that. But President Trump pardoned more than 1500 people, hundreds of whom had violently assaulted our police officers, brutalizing them, injuring them, giving them traumatic brain injuries, concussions, heart attacks, strokes, without looking at a single one's individualized records, just pardoning them, all of them mass. And guess what? 97 of them have already gone

on to reaffend today. They've been convicted of so far child sexual assault, home invasion, production of child pornography, conspiracy to murder an FBI agent, kidnapping, reckless homicide, domestic violence by strangulation, stalking, drug trafficking, burglary, and a lot more. I don't have time to get into all of them. One guy, Andrew Paul Johnson, this guy was still in prison. Trump pardoned him, gave him clemency. He got out of prison and a few weeks later went and sexually assaulted a 12-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl and then tried to stop them from reporting him by saying he would give them some of the money that he gets from Donald Trump because he's Jay Sixler and they're all going to get

millions of dollars. So, just to give you a sense of what's going on out there. So, for those people who are categorically denouncing violence against the police, I'd like you guys to take that to heart and talk to some of the Capitol officers who are protecting us here today. You'll see them on your way out. Well, look, uh, Lorenzo Salgado Ajo was a 52-year-old construction worker and immigrant who' lived in Houston for 35 years. He had no criminal record, no charges, no arrests. On July 7th, he left home to pick up his brother and two co-workers to go work at a construction site of an American business. ICE agents in two unmarked cars looking for someone else saw him and without turning on any lights or

without any indication of who they were began chasing his van. So they surrounded his vehicle and attempted to force him off the [clears throat] road. Moments later, an ICE agent who was not wearing a body camera fired through Mr. Salgado's passenger side window, killing the father of three. Mr. Salgato had no record. He was not subject to a detention order. Is trying to go to work. Now, Mr. Macowski, you worked for ICE. You trained officers. Is it ever acceptable for ICE agents to pursue a vehicle in an unmarked car

without using their lights or sirens? Do you know the rules on that, sir? So, since I retired, uh policies may have changed, but the I don't believe uh the policy pursuits were uh allowed. Yeah, it's in the ICE field manual. Oh, I've got the regulation right here. HCFR 287.8 saying that a designated purs pursue vehicle is defined only as a vehicle equipped with emergency lights and siren placed in or on the vehicle that emit audible and visual signals. They didn't have that. And now this father of three is dead. 6 days later, uh Johan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a 26-year-old father, left his home, crossed the country in Bitford, Maine to

go to work to support his young family. He didn't get far. ICE agents driving an unmarked SUV rammed his vehicle, surrounded his car with guns drawn and shot him in the head in front of his three-year-old daughter. And again, they weren't looking for him. They were going to look for somebody else, but they saw him and then chased him down and shot him in front of his daughter. She watched as ICE agents handcuffed her father's lifeless body to the steering wheel. Agent who killed him wasn't wearing a body camera. What's more, he had a history of serious domestic violence and he'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He once threw boiling water in the face of his ex-wife, his

first wife, while she was holding their child. His wife testified that he was a danger to the society and yet he was armed and deputized by ICE to go out and terrify people. Mr. Delquetto, you served as a border patrol agent for 20 years. Should DHS be doing a background check screen for a history of domestic violence and psychiatric illness? They do thorough background investigations if doesn't if something doesn't get reported. However, that wait no should my question is should they do one? They do one already. No, they did not do one in this case. It did not happen. So, uh that did not happen but it should happen. But it is typical now of ISIS hiring practices.

Bring everybody in just like Donald Trump's parties. We don't care really what your background is and clothe you with the power of the federal government, turning our society upside down, turning Americans against each other, and having our officers shoot our people like Alex Prey and Renee Good at point blank range in the streets of America. That's what this has led to. I go back