Why is Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) tasked with delivering the attack lines or mounting any defense of this administration’s policies? The man, who doesn’t need this job as an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, cannot do anything right. He was lead counsel in the first Trump impeachment effort before his election to Congress. He failed. Now, this man decides to pick a fight with Josephine Dunn, who lost her daughter to the ongoing fentanyl crisis, during an impeachment hearing for DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Goldman is a piece of work. https://t.co/lorze6aa8s
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) January 19, 2024
Goldman’s question time dismissed Ms. Dunn, saying her remarks were essentially irrelevant to these proceedings. The overall theme of Goldman’s comments could be couched in this question: What the hell are you doing here? Ms. Dunn wasn’t having any of this condescending nonsense. Mary Chastain of Legal Insurrection wrote about how she tore apart Goldman, along with the C-Span transcript of the exchange:
Goldman: THANK YOU, MR. CHAIRMAN. I THINK OUR WITNESSES FOR BEING HERE TODAY. I JUST WANT TO EXPRESS MY SINCERE CONDOLENCES. I WAS A FEDERAL PROSECUTOR FOR 10 YEARS WHO CHARGED PEOPLE FOR GANG-RELATED AND DRUG TRAFFICKING CRIMES. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME I HAVE HAD TO INTERACT WITH FAMILIES OF VICTIMS, AND MY HEART GOES OUT TO YOU. I WANT TO APOLOGIZE IN SOME WAYS THAT YOU ARE HERE, REALLY, TO SHARE YOUR STORY, BUT BEING USED AS A FACT WITNESS FOR AN IMPEACHMENT INVESTIGATION. AND OBVIOUSLY, GIVEN WHAT YOUR EXPERIENCE HAS BEEN, YOU DON’T HAVE THE BACKGROUND TO UNDERSTAND WHAT A HIGH CRIME MISDEMEANOR IS AND HOW IT RELATES TO THIS. AND SO I HOPE THAT, YOU KNOW, YOU ARE HANDLING THAT OKAY. ONE OF THE THINGS THAT THE CHAIRMAN SAID AT THE BEGINNING OF HIS OPENINGS DATE MEANT WAS THAT HE WISHES THE DEMOCRATS WOULD TURN OUR SYMPATHY INTO ACTION, AND QUITE IRONICALLY, SAID THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE NOT ENOUGH. AT FIRST, I THOUGHT WE WERE AT A GUN VIOLENCE HEARING WERE WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE REPEATED THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS OF THE TWO MASS SHOOTINGS THAT HAPPEN EVERY DAY. BUT I DO WANT TO JUST GO THROUGH SOME OF THE ACTIONS, TURNING SYMPATHY INTO ACTION. BECAUSE I ASSUME, MS. DUNN, YOU WOULD AGREE — WOULD YOU NOT ? THAT IT WOULD HELP TO STOP THE FENTANYL TRADE AND FENTANYL TRAFFICKING FROM COMING INTO THIS COUNTRY IF WE HAD MORE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AT THE BORDER, AND MORE RESOURCES AND TECHNOLOGY TO STOP THE FENTANYL FROM COMING IN. YOU AGREE WITH THAT?
Dunn: I DISAGREE WITH THAT, BECAUSE BORDER PATROL IS NOW BEING USED TO MAKE SANDWICHES AND SCREEN PEOPLE AND LET THEM INTO OUR COUNTRY. SO I DISAGREE WITH YOU.
Goldman: SO YOU ARE SAYING THAT — SO YOU ARE SAYING THAT YOU ARE UPSET BECAUSE THE BORDER PATROL IS NOT DOING — IS MAKING SANDWICHES, I THINK YOU SAID, SO YOU DON’T THINK IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO HAVE MORE BORDER PATROL OFFICERS WHO ARE CHARGED WITH STOPPING THE FENTANYL TRADE?
Dunn: I WOULD LIKE THE BORDER PATROL TO BE ABLE TO DO THE JOB THAT THEY WERE HIRED TO DO. EVERY BORDER PATROL OFFICER THAT I HAVE SPOKEN TO HAS TOLD ME THAT THEIR HANDS ARE TIED BY THIS ADMINISTRATION AND MR. MAYORKAS. I’VE BEEN TO THE BORDER, SIR. HAVE YOU? HAVE YOU?
Goodman: I’M ASKING THE QUESTIONS. THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS THAT IN CONGRESS, THIS CONGRESS, WE HAVE INTERVIEWED NINE SENIOR OFFICIALS UNDER DHS, AND A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT CAPACITIES. EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM HAS SAID THAT IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO PROVIDE MORE RESOURCES AT THE BORDER TO STOP THE FLOW OF FENTANYL COMING IN. AND THAT IS ACTUALLY EXACTLY WHAT PRESIDENT BIDEN HAS DONE. AND LAST YEAR’S BUDGET, FISCAL YEAR 2023, THE APPROPRIATIONS, THEY INCLUDED 300 ADDITIONAL U.S. ORDER PATROL AGENTS, IT WAS THE FIRST INCREASE SINCE 2011 AND INCLUDED 125 MORE CBP OFFICERS. $70 MILLION FOR NONINTRUSIVE AND ACTION. AND 200 HOUSE REPUBLICANS, INCLUDING EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN SERVING AT THE TIME WHO CURRENTLY SITS ON THIS COMMITTEE, VOTED AGAINST THAT BILL. UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION, THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HAS SEIZED MORE FENTANYL AND ARRESTED MORE CRIMINALS FOR FENTANYL RELATED CRIMES IN THE LAST TWO YEARS, AND IN THE PREVIOUS FIVE YEARS COMBINED. AND EVEN IN THIS CONGRESS, WHEN WE HAD THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY APPROPRIATIONS BOARD, THEY OFFERED AN AMENDMENT THAT WOULD PROVIDE MORE MONEY AND MORE RESOURCES FOR THE BORDER TO STOP THE FENTANYL TRADE IN EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN VOTED IT DOWN. BUT THAT’S NOT IT. EVEN WITH THE SUPPLEMENTAL REQUEST FROM THE WHITE HOUSE, THEY REQUESTED $1.2 BILLION TO CRACK DOWN ON THE TRAFFICKING OF DANGEROUS AND LETHAL AND ILLICIT DRUGS LIKE FENTANYL, INCLUDING OVER $300 MILLION FOR THE MOST EFFECTIVE NONINTRUSIVE INSPECTION SYSTEMS. 90% OF FENTANYL COMES TO THE PORTS OF ENTRY, SO HAVING THOSE INSPECTION SYSTEMS WOULD DO IT AGAIN. THE REPUBLICANS WILL NOT SUPPORT THE BORDER WITH ADDITIONAL RESOURCES TO DO THE JOB THAT THE SECRETARY WANTS TO DO. AND SO WE ARE HERE YET AGAIN FOR A POLITICAL STUNT, TO MAKE AN ARGUMENT THAT THIS ADMINISTRATION IS NOT DOING ANYTHING, EVEN AS IT IS NEGOTIATING TO TRY TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS OF THE BORDER, AND EVEN AS IT IS TRYING TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF BORDER AGENTS AND TECHNOLOGY TO ADDRESS THE FENTANYL SYSTEM. LET’S STOP THIS SHAM IMPEACHMENT HEARING, AND LET’S GO NEGOTIATE WITH THE SENATE AND THE WHITE HOUSE, WHO ARE DOING THAT RIGHT NOW WITH SECRETARY MAYORKAS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS OF THE BORDER. I YIELD BACK.
Don’t forget that Mr. Goldman damn near led to a special counsel appointment on the spot last July when he tried to corner IRS whistleblowers Joseph Ziegler and Gary Shapley. Law professor Jonathan Turley described Goldman’s disastrous cross-examination as inflicting Dresden-level damage to the Biden defense regarding Joe and Hunter Biden’s lucrative government access peddling and whether the president knew or was involved in these shady deals. The expiration of his time for questioning is what saved his bacon. Even CBS News called him out for his “illusion of access” talking point, which got torched by former Hunter Biden associate Devon Archer’s testimony.
And now, Goldman tried to pick a fight with the mother who lost her daughter to fentanyl, which is part of the border crisis that Joe Biden refuses to acknowledge or address in any meaningful way. Who in his office thought this was a good idea? Not to get too detached from the situation here since lives have been lost, but a grieving mother will always win over an idiot. And Mr. Goldman has proven to be a grade-A moron when it comes to these situations. How did this man ever graduate from law school?
Democrats are insufferably self-righteous, cultists in the religion of credentialism and dismissive of anyone who can expose and shred their worldview. Whether it be a wounded veteran or a parent who’s endured unfathomable loss, Democrats will attack and denigrate you. It’s who they are—cruel, intolerant, and smug.
