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Floor Speech
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Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. President, to speak on my objection, I think it is important to note that the resolution I presented does not mention Elon Musk. The ``Resolved'' title in this--and by the way, it is really short is that the Senate condemns the horrific acts of violence, arson, and domestic terrorism committed against electric vehicles, car dealerships, and charging stations across the United States.
Now, for years, my Democratic colleagues have come to the floor and supported EVs. Just last year, my colleague from Connecticut claimed, and I quote him, ``if we want to cut emissions and save the planet, we need more electric cars on the road.''
And as domestic terrorists target the largest EV company in the world, they refuse to condemn the violent actions. And in the past, he has also condemned vandalism and political violence.
Now, as BLM rioters rampaged through American cities in the summer of 2020, he posted on X that ``Looting and property damage is bad.''
He deleted that post, but I will give him credit, his sentiment was right. And after an assassin's bullet almost took the life of then- Candidate Trump, he said:
There is no room in America for political violence.
He was right on that quote. And as we see a wave of political violence in our country today, Democrats should have no problem condemning it.
Now, to the resolution from my colleague in Washington, I find it interesting that they want to talk about lawlessness. For years, they pushed policies that weaken law enforcement and promote crime.
As BLM rioters rampaged through Seattle in 2020, my colleague called on the Department of Homeland Security to remove Federal agents from the city who were trying to quell the unrest.
The U.S. Senate should be able to stand up to violence and support law and order. And today, they are stopping us from doing that.
And when it comes to pardons, I think we should talk about pardons. In his final weeks in office, President Biden abused his pardon power to protect family members, free violent criminals, and make our country less safe.
For years, President Biden claimed he would not pardon his son Hunter; yet, in December, Biden gave him an unconditional pardon for any Federal crimes he may have committed over the course of a decade.
Such an abuse of Presidential pardon power has never happened in our Nation's history. Just months before, Hunter had been convicted of Federal gun crimes and tax offenses totaling $1.4 million. At the same time, evidence continued to mount that Hunter sold access to his father in foreign countries, including China and Russia. This was a multimillion-dollar influence peddling scheme and a Biden family affair.
That is why just minutes before leaving office, the former President also pardoned his siblings and their spouses. They joined more than 8,000 people who received pardons and commutations from Joe Biden, including many violent criminals and murderers.
With one foot out the door, before leaving office, he commuted the death sentences of 37 of the 40 men on Federal death row, including-- get this--Thomas Sanders, who kidnapped and then shot a 12-year-old girl, and he cut her throat. That is who Joe Biden decided to commute a sentence on. Anthony Battle, who murdered an Atlanta prison guard with a hammer in 1994 while serving a life sentence for raping and murdering his wife. And Kaboni Savage, who was convicted of committing and ordering the deaths of not 1 person or 2, 12 people--12 people, including 4 little children.
If we should be condemning any pardons, we should start with violent criminals. To be clear, Senate Republicans strongly oppose any violence, especially toward our Nation's brave law enforcement. Our resolution states that all acts of violence are entirely unacceptable in the United States. I would encourage my colleagues to join me in passing this resolution. Instead, they have decided to play games with a sham counter resolution.
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