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00:00Back to Capitol Hill, where a hearing continues on D.C. and crime.
00:07Congress, over and over and over again, Marion Barry came up here on this hill so many times
00:14to make the argument for the people of Washington that fairness has to be fair.
00:20It just can't be proportioned out when we feel like it.
00:23In 1990, Congressman Walter Fauntroy, myself, Marion, Jesse Jackson, and so many others
00:31put together Freedom Train rides from D.C. to New England, making a stop in each city along the way,
00:37making the case for statehood, and urging Americans up and down the coast to support it.
00:44In 1993, I was proud, along with your current delegate,
00:49to vote for the first D.C. statehood bill here in the Congress.
00:54And let me just point out one thing.
00:57Not one Republican voted for that bill.
01:01And that bill went down.
01:04It went down after a great deal of fight by a vote of 153 to 277.
01:132016 D.C. voters voted to approve a statehood referendum.
01:16The people voted 86% to approve that.
01:22This Congress ignored it.
01:24In 2020, the 116th Congress, H.R. 5-1 became the next statehood bill.
01:33It was defeated.
01:36And the following year, in the 117th Congress, we came back with the same bill.
01:40It was defeated again without any votes or representation from the other side.
01:45So at some point in time, you have to ask yourself, if this is so partisan, what is the issue?
01:53Now, some people argue the issue is racial.
01:55I know I shouldn't say that, but I'm going to say it because people feel that way.
01:59They think that if this was any other population, majority population, that this would not be taking place.
02:04We all know that it's partisan, even though some people will say it's not partisan, because the district tends to vote Democratic.
02:13So let's not play games here.
02:15Let's be honest and true.
02:18And if we are true, and if we are true, about making sure that Americans, no matter where they are, but especially here in this district, have rights that others don't have,
02:29stop treating the District of Columbia like a donor state.
02:32They donate their taxes.
02:34They donate their military officers.
02:36They donate their brain trust.
02:38And they give of themselves.
02:39And at some point in time, we, as a body, have to give back.
02:45Taxation without representation is as wrong today as it was when the Boston Tea Party exploded over the same issue.
02:55Gentlemen, time's expired.
02:57Thank you, Mr. Fumai.
02:58Chair recognizes Mr. Biggs from Arizona.
03:00Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
03:01And thank you, all of the witnesses, for coming in today.
03:04Attorney General Schwab, do you remember the case, State of Maryland and District of Columbia versus Engage Armament, LC, et cetera?
03:12I do.
03:13And in that case, just for anybody who's not aware of it, the district joined Maryland and sued three Maryland firearm retailers for allegedly making straw purchases.
03:23In your lawsuit, you engaged two outside counsel.
03:26One firm, I think it's called Everytown Law, and another was Perkins Coie.
03:34Do you remember that?
03:35I do.
03:35And how much did you pay Perkins Coie, and how much did you pay Everytown Lawsuit?
03:40Both of those outside firms are on a pro bono basis, so no money has been paid to them.
03:45You didn't pay them anything.
03:46Okay.
03:49You know, you filed that lawsuit was baseless, right?
03:52You'd agree with that now after you've read the verdict of the district court, and I'm going to go through that with you pretty clearly.
04:00Well, Mr. Biggs, as you know, that case has been dismissed and is on appeal, and given the fact that it is still part of active litigation.
04:07You don't want to talk about it.
04:08I don't blame you.
04:08I'm not going to talk about the merits while it's in active litigation.
04:11I don't blame you for not wanting to talk about it, because I go through here, and at least ten times the judge said there's absolutely no basis.
04:19There's no factual basis for bringing that lawsuit.
04:23So that's pretty damning.
04:26And not only that, under Maryland law, and basically Arizona's the same way, most cases is every bit of deference is going to be given to a party who's defending against a motion to dismiss or motion for summary judgment, right?
04:44I mean, that's normal.
04:45That's Maryland law, right?
04:47Yes, that's the standard.
04:48Yeah, and in this particular case, the judge made some very interesting comments.
04:57This is what he said.
04:58Ordinarily, leave to amend in Maryland is freely granted, particularly when a case is in an early stage, unless leave to amend would be futile or inappropriate for other reasons.
05:09This case presents such an occasion to deny the request, close quote.
05:15I don't know.
05:15I used to practice.
05:17I used to do a lot of trial work.
05:18I don't remember ever seeing something like that.
05:20That's pretty damning stuff from the court.
05:23And then it goes on, the judge goes on to say, at bottom in the court's view, the plaintiffs hope to use the discovery process in order to construct a case.
05:34And the court correctly notes, through that discovery, the plaintiff wants to find sufficient facts to state a viable claim for relief.
05:44But right then, in the complaint, failed to state any claim for relief.
05:48And so, the question that's begged here is, why wasn't a Rule 11 sanction brought against you and the other plaintiff's attorneys?
06:03Was a Rule 11 sanction brought?
06:04No, sir.
06:05And while we obviously disagree with that ruling, we are pursuing an appeal, as the rules allow us to do, and I'm confident that we'll get it turned around at the Court of Appeals.
06:13Of course, you were confident you were going to win the case when you didn't have jack squat, but you went after three FFLs because you had a political agenda.
06:25There were no sanctions?
06:26Did you have to pay attorney's fees or costs?
06:28Were any of those ordered?
06:29I didn't see them ordered in here.
06:30I assume they weren't ordered.
06:31There were no sanctions.
06:33There were no costs.
06:34The important thing is, we were working as hard as we can in this city to keep illegal guns out of the district.
06:38No, no, the important thing is, and the way in which guns come into our district too often is to straw purchases.
06:43The important thing, Mr. Attorney General Schwab, the important thing was that you were using your office to abuse gun FFLs because you don't like them, and that's the deal.
06:55Because, as the judge said, you basically didn't have a case whatsoever, but you decided to use your power and your authority and make the process the punishment.
07:07That's what you chose to do.
07:08That's what you chose to do, and there's no question before you.
07:11That is not true, sir.
07:12That's exactly what this says, and that's a shame because that's an abuse of power right there.
07:19And so you come in here and sit here and tell us all this righteousness about power, but I'm telling you, when you're using the process itself to go after political opponents, which is exactly what you're doing.
07:30This is a philosophical issue that you have, and you used them, and you used two firms that you know and I know that that's their motive.
07:39The law firm, every state, that is their job.
07:46That's what they want to do.
07:47They solicit funds to go out there and sue FFLs because they don't want the Second Amendment to even exist.
07:54Read their statements, and you joined with them.
07:57Mayor Bowser, it's good to see you again.
07:59I know you do have a tough job.
08:01I'm the first to admit it, but it's good to see you again.
08:04And I'm out of time, so I can't ask any questions, but I do have some things I want to, Mr. Chairman, I have some UCs.
08:11Yes, proceed.
08:11First of all, I wanted to introduce the memorandum decision and order from the case, State of Maryland, D.C. versus Engage Armament et al.
08:21Without objection to order.
08:23The letter from the committee to the Honorable Brian L. Schwab dated June 11, 2025.
08:29Without objection to order.
08:30Which we're still waiting for answers for.
08:33This one, Mayor Muriel Bowser says Trump's surge of federal law enforcement has lowered crime in D.C.
08:39Without objection to order.
08:40Trump's D.C. crime crackdown busts another alleged trend that Aragua gang member makes D.C. safe again.
08:47Without objection to order.
08:49This one, Trump's executive orders target D.C. crime as the city hits 12 days without a homicide.
08:53Without objection to order.
08:55This one is radical D.C. officials treated officers like crap, police leader says.
08:59Without objection to order.
09:00Murdered congressional intern's mom says Trump should take over Washington, D.C.
09:03Without objection to order.
09:05Yes, prosecuting and arresting criminals would have immediate impact on D.C.'s crime.
09:09Without objection to order.
09:10Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
09:12Chair recognizes Ms. Brown from Ohio.
09:13Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
09:14And thank you to our witnesses for being here today.
09:17So we want to talk about abuse of power, huh?
09:20Well, let me start here.
09:21President Trump's only expertise on crime is committing it, not preventing it, enabling it, not ending it, and covering it up, not cleaning it up.
09:32He is a convicted felon.
09:34He has illegally frozen federal funding.
09:38He has assaulted the rule of law at every turn.
09:42He has consistently violated constitutionally protected due process rights.
09:47And he has unleashed a corporate agenda to enrich himself and his wealthy donors.
09:52Right now, as we sit here, Trump is bending over backwards to protect Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex trafficker who preyed on children and blocking the release of the Epstein files to shield criminals from accountability.
10:08In the last 10 months alone, he has pardoned countless white-collar fraudsters who ripped off the American people, often conveniently after they cozied up to him.
10:19And let's not forget, Trump pardoned every single person charged or convicted in the January 6th insurrection.
10:28That included 172 people who pleaded guilty, pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement.
10:36It included dozens of repeat offenders, people with prior convictions for rape, manslaughter, and sexual abuse of a minor.
10:46And it included at least 10 individuals who have already, already been rearrested for new crimes.
10:54So spare us, spare us the talk of law and order, because under Trump, that only means lawlessness for his friends and punishment for everyone else.
11:06Now, let me be clear.
11:08I care deeply about public safety in my district, in every district across America.
11:15Every person deserves to feel safe in their neighborhood, at their job, and their school.
11:22And if I may, there is some good news.
11:26Violent crime has been consistently decreasing across America.
11:32And yes, we have more work to do, but we also know what works to keep it that way.
11:39So if you are really serious about public safety, let's increase funding for violence prevention programs.
11:48Let's pass common sense gun safety bills.
11:53And let's provide additional federal resources to our local partners to recruit and train local law enforcement.
12:03But what has this administration done instead?
12:07Rolled back gun safety reforms.
12:11Gutted DOJ programs tasked with addressing violent crime.
12:15And blocked funding to local law enforcement and community violence prevention agencies, like the one you served, Mr. Jackson.
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