Orrin Hatch: “Let me say this to the Chair. I have answered it about three times now. Let's be fair about it. As chairman, I cannot do…”

“Let me say this to the Chair. I have answered it about three times now. Let's be fair about it. As chairman, I cannot do everything. All I can do is abide by the rules of the committee, which are that there has to be consultation, not phony requests for consultation. You have to at least consult. They did not even consult. I wrote a letter to the then-counsel, bless his departed soul, Chuck Ruff, for whom I happened to care a great deal, and there are very great reasons I do. He was a great lawyer, and I got along well with him. I said: You did not consult and they did not. He basically admitted it. Those two Senators were well within their rights to say: We are not going to have him if we are not going to get consultation. And they were within their rights. As chairman, I had no choice other than to do that. I think the Senator knows that. That is why I believe the questions are very unfair to me. Now, I will admit, Miguel Estrada was given a hearing by the Democrats. Senator Schumer presided over it, and there was more than one Democratic Senator present. It was a fair hearing. I believe it was. It went from about 10 in the morning to 5:30 at night, longer than most hearings. They asked every question they wanted to ask. I assumed the Democrats believed they were going to win the election and therefore they would never have to have Miguel Estrada come up for a vote any time.”