Senator Josh Hawley kept asking a Biden judicial nominee a straightforward question about Hunter Biden’s laptop but Brandon S. Long, a former aide to the FBI director, repeatedly declined to answer whether he’d participated in any meetings about it. Long cited Justice Department rules and the judicial code of conduct as Hawley challenged him over and over to explain why either prevented him from providing a yes-or-no answer. The exchange grew sharpe when Hawley moved to an FBI memo concerning traditionalist Catholic parishes and Long again declined to speak.
The confrontation took place at a Senate Judiciary Committee nomination hearing on July 12th, 2023. Long, then an assistant U.S. attorney, was seeking a lifetime appointment to the federal district court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. From February 2020 to July 2021, he’d served as deputy chief of staff to the FBI director. Hawley returned to a question Senator Marsha Blackburn had asked earlier about Long’s work there.
“She asked you if you participated in any meetings at all related to the Hunter Biden laptop. Was that a yes or a no?” Hawley asked. Long began to explain that, as a Justice Department employee and judicial nominee, he was bound by rules governing what he could discuss. Hawley cut in: “Why isn’t it appropriate for you?” He stressed that he was asking about Long’s former job, then asked whether this was going to be an “I’m not going to answer you type deal.”
Long cited the code of judicial conduct. “The code of judicial conduct doesn’t have any bearing on this question whatsoever,” Hawley replied. “What possible bearing could it have?” Hawley said the code was “not a get-out-of-jail-free card” for someone who didn’t want to answer questions under oath. He asked once more whether Long had participated in meetings about the laptop while serving as deputy or acting chief of staff. “Again, I’m not permitted to answer,” Long said.
“Oh, you are permitted to answer. You don’t want to answer because it would be inconvenient for you,” Hawley responded. He called Long’s refusal “extremely troubling” and moved to another subject. Asked whether he had observed FBI resources being used to monitor pro-life groups or Catholic parishes, Long said he had no information about the former and answered no to the latter. Hawley immediately pointed out that Long was willing to answer those questions while declining to answer the one about the laptop.
Hawley brought up a January 2023 memo from the FBI’s Richmond field office concerning traditionalist Catholic parishes. Long said he’d seen news reports about the memo but hadn’t seen the document itself. Hawley described its discussion of developing sources in parishes and asked whether Long had observed anything similar during his FBI assignment. Long said he had not. Hawley followed up by asking whether recruiting informants in Catholic parishes would be appropriate, and Long said he couldn’t comment without reviewing the memo and its circumstances.
Watch the exchange here:
"*" indicates required fields
Hawley pressed hard for Long to answer the question as a lawyer and prospective judge. Long again said the matter hadn’t come up during his time at the FBI and that he had never seen the memo. “I cannot believe your answers,” Hawley said, adding that he was “absolutely stunned” Long wouldn’t call the conduct inappropriate. He ended his questioning by saying, “For that reason, among others, I cannot support your nomination.”
Hawley remained opposed to the nomination. The Senate confirmed Long as a district judge on December 14th, 2023, by a vote of 64–22 with Hawley voting against him. Long took office on December 21st, 2023, and the court currently lists him as an active judge in the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.