President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s internal watchdog office repeatedly refused in his confirmation hearing to use the word “attack” to describe the violence on January 6, 2021, that disrupted Congress’ election certification vote.
“I don’t know if I would use the term ‘attack,'” Don Berthiaume, the nominee to be the DOJ inspector general, told senators on Wednesday. “I mean, we had activity outside the Capitol —protests and such — and there was violence on the Capitol grounds.”
Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, had asked Berthiaume if the Capitol was attacked on January 6, and he grilled the nominee on why he would not agree to characterize the events of that day as an attack.
“There was protest activity, people went to the Capitol grounds. People entered the Capitol building, which is contrary – as far as I know – to law,” Berthiaume said, while stressing that he didn’t “agree” with the term attack even as he acknowledged the “physical violence” outside the Capitol that day.
“The term attack — to me — seems to imply that there was a coordinated effort to attack specific things,” the nominee added.
The position of inspector general was created by Congress, among a host of post-Watergate reforms in the 1970s, to investigate waste, fraud and abuse within executive branch agencies.
Berthiaume has experience working as an attorney within the Justice Department’s inspector general office, and has served in oversight roles at other agencies.
Earlier in his questioning, Blumenthal asked Berthiaume who won the 2020 election. That question has tripped up Trump nominees for judgeships and for other government positions. Berthiaume, echoing a tactic used by other nominees, said that President Joe Biden had been “certified” by the Senate as the winner.
Berthiaume denied discussing with the White House how he’d answer that question.
Don Berthiaume, Trump’s nominee for Department of Justice Inspector General, declines to use the word “attack” to describe the violence of the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol. – CSPAN
Blumenthal said Wednesday that he asked questions about the 2020 election results and the January 6 attack as a test of the nominee’s independence.
Trump has taken several steps to undermine the institution of inspectors general, including with mass firings that did not follow the procedures set by out Congress for terminating those officials. A federal court found those removals likely to be unlawful, but declined to reinstate the fired IGs into the positions.
Berthiaume said Wednesday that he agreed with the court’s conclusion that the terminations broke the law.
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