1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,040 Speaker 1: It's time now for our daily Bloomberg Law Brief, exploring 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,600 Speaker 1: legal issues in the news. And Today, Bloomberg Law host 3 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: During Grasso discussed his confirmation hearing sort President Trump's picked 4 00:00:09,520 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: a lee the FBI, Christopher Ray. She speaks with Benjamin Wagner, 5 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: a partner at Gibson Dunn and former U S Attorney 6 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: for the Eastern District of California. Benjamin did Ray pass 7 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,159 Speaker 1: the loyalty test to the rule of law that the 8 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: senators seemed to be giving him, Well, I think so. Um. Obviously, 9 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:30,720 Speaker 1: he needed to convey that he understood this was a 10 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:35,080 Speaker 1: very unusual situation that he was in. The circumstances surrounding 11 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:39,280 Speaker 1: the departure of the prior director, the ongoing Special Council 12 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:43,920 Speaker 1: investigation UH puts Mr Ray in a very, uh, sort 13 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: of unusual situation going in as FBI director, And I 14 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: think he needed to convey that he understood that that 15 00:00:50,320 --> 00:00:53,199 Speaker 1: he was going to be independent by the book. UH. 16 00:00:53,479 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: And I think he did a good job of responding 17 00:00:57,080 --> 00:01:00,560 Speaker 1: to questions from both sides of the aisle in reassuring 18 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,040 Speaker 1: senators that that he understood the situation and and he 19 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:07,479 Speaker 1: could be relied upon to be nonpartisan and independent. Ray 20 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: was asked so many questions as hypotheticals that were really 21 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:15,959 Speaker 1: based on things that James Coby did or said, for example, 22 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,959 Speaker 1: his press conference on Hillary Clinton's email investigation and his 23 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: testimony that Trump asked him to drop the investigation into 24 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: former National Security advisor Michael Flynn. What was your reaction 25 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: to the senators taking the facts and putting them into 26 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: hypotheticals for him, Well, you know, it's not surprising. There's 27 00:01:37,520 --> 00:01:39,160 Speaker 1: always a little bit of this kind of game that 28 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: goes back and forth um at uh confirmation hearings for 29 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,959 Speaker 1: these kinds of positions. You saw it in the Supreme 30 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: Court confirmation hearing recently, where that nominees understandably don't want 31 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 1: to be sort of on the record talking about facts 32 00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: that are either outside their uh their personal knowledge or 33 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: talk about things that may come before them. Uh, and 34 00:02:02,720 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: they may have to, you know, be be held to 35 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: opinions that were expressed earlier when they didn't know all 36 00:02:08,080 --> 00:02:10,760 Speaker 1: the facts, and so they're very careful about that. And 37 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 1: for that reason, Uh, you know, senators have been through 38 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:18,040 Speaker 1: this rigmarole before, and so I think they approach it 39 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: in the sort of a hypothetical uh in order to 40 00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:22,760 Speaker 1: get the person talking, so they can get a sense 41 00:02:22,800 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: of the person without UH forcing a question that they 42 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,240 Speaker 1: know that the nominee will not answer, as Benjamin Wagner, 43 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: a partner at Gibson and Dunn, speaking with Bloomberg La 44 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: host Jun Grass. So you can listen to Bloomberg Law 45 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:38,240 Speaker 1: weekdays at one pm Wall Street Time here on Bloomberg 46 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:40,960 Speaker 1: Radio and among the top legal stories from Bloomberg Law, 47 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,679 Speaker 1: A federal judge in Hawaii has vastly expanded the list 48 00:02:44,720 --> 00:02:48,959 Speaker 1: of relatives exempt from President Trump's travel ban. The ruling 49 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,040 Speaker 1: is the latest pushback in the fight set off by 50 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: the band the President first attempted in January, will culminate 51 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:57,560 Speaker 1: with arguments in front of the U. S. Supreme Court 52 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: in October. And that's this morning's Bloomberg Lawbrary. If you 53 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,080 Speaker 1: can find more illegal news at Bloomberg Law dot com 54 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:08,120 Speaker 1: and Bloomberg BNA dot com. Attorneys will find exceptional legal 55 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: research and business development tools there as well. Visit Bloomberg 56 00:03:11,639 --> 00:03:15,279 Speaker 1: Law dot com and Bloomberg BNA dot com for more information.