Hawley to Judicial Nominee Brandon Long on the Hunter Biden Laptop: 'It Is Not a Get Out of Jail Free Card' (July 12, 2023)

On July 12, 2023, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing for several of President Biden’s nominees, including Brandon Long, a federal prosecutor in New Orleans nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana [1]. Long had the backing of Louisiana’s two Republican senators, John Kennedy and Bill Cassidy [7]; Sen. Lindsey Graham told them, “I think you have chosen wisely.” But Long had also served in 2020 and 2021 as deputy chief of staff, and briefly acting chief of staff, to FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Republican senators wanted to know what he had seen there. This video shows Sen. Josh Hawley’s questioning. All quotes below are from the official hearing record, Senate Hearing 118-29, Part 7 [1].

Key Moments

Graham’s questions

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina asked first. Was Long at the FBI on January 6, 2021? “I was.” Was it a good day or a bad day for America? “It was a bad day for America, Senator.” Graham said “the FBI is taking a beating right now, at least on our side of the aisle,” and asked about whistleblower allegations that the Hunter Biden investigation had not been handled fairly. Long said there was “an open investigation involving Hunter Biden” and, pressed, that “I do not have any information. No, I do not know anything about this.” He added that the bureau’s 2016 Crossfire Hurricane investigation “predated my role at the FBI by a few years.” When Graham asked about U.S. Attorney David Weiss’s reported request for more authority, Long said: “this involves an open investigation. As a Department of Justice attorney, as well as a judicial nominee, it is—I am bound not to comment on open investigations” [1].

Blackburn’s question

Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee raised the subject first. She noted that Long had been at the FBI “when the Hunter Biden laptop story broke in October of 2020,” and asked whether he had participated in “any meetings, any memos, any emails that would have provided discussion, advice, or guidance on how to handle the Hunter Biden laptop situation,” or on the bureau’s response to threats at school board meetings [1].

”Was that a yes or a no?”

“Mr. Long, I did not understand your answer to Senator Blackburn,” Hawley began. “She asked you if you’d participated in any meetings at all related to the Hunter Biden laptop. Was that a yes or a no?” Long answered: “Senator, as a Department of Justice employee bound by Section 1-7 of the Justice manual, as well as a judicial nominee, it is not appropriate for me, and I am bound not to----” “Why—wait, wait, wait, wait. Why isn’t it appropriate for you as a judicial nominee?” Hawley said. “I am asking you what you did in your former employment as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the FBI Director."

"It is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card”

When Long said he was “bound to follow the Code of Judicial Conduct,” Hawley replied: “The Code of Judicial Conduct does not have any bearing on this question, whatsoever. What possible bearing could it have?” Long said the code “requires integrity, and independence in the judiciary.” “It is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card, when you do not want to answer questions when you are under oath before a Committee who is considering you for a lifetime appointment to the Federal bench,” Hawley said. He asked once more, and Long answered: “Senator, again, I am not permitted to answer.” “Oh, you are permitted to answer. You do not want to answer because it would be inconvenient for you,” Hawley said. “Extremely troubling. Not a good start.”

The Richmond memo

Hawley then asked whether Long had seen FBI resources used to monitor anti-abortion or Catholic groups. “No, Senator,” Long said. Hawley noted that Long was “happy to answer those questions, but you are not happy to answer the Hunter Biden questions,” and held up a January 2023 memo from the FBI’s Richmond field office that, he said, recommended developing informants in traditionalist Catholic parishes. Asked whether that was appropriate, Long said he had not reviewed the memo and “it would not be appropriate for me to comment on it.”

The Record

The Code of Judicial Conduct. By its own terms, the Code of Conduct for United States Judges “applies to United States circuit judges, district judges” and other sitting federal judges [2], not to nominees.
The Richmond memo. The memo was real. Wray told the House Judiciary Committee the same day that he had been “aghast” when it came to his attention and “ordered it withdrawn and removed from FBI systems,” and he described it as the work of one field office [3]. FBI records released in June 2025 by Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, showed the memo “was widely distributed to over 1,000 FBI employees across the country before it was publicly disclosed by a whistleblower in 2023” [8].

What Happened Next

A special counsel: The Hunter Biden investigation Long cited was still open. A month after the hearing, on Aug. 11, 2023, Attorney General Merrick Garland named David Weiss special counsel to take it over [4].
Confirmation: The Senate confirmed Long on December 14, 2023, by 64–22, according to the Federal Judicial Center [5].
The memo’s authors: In June 2026, CBS News reported that the FBI had fired at least five analysts involved in writing the Richmond memo [6].