Konstantinos Ligris, a DOJ nominee floated by President Donald Trump, seemed surprised when he was asked about tweets insulting two sitting senators serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Trump sent Ligris’s nomination to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Wednesday. If confirmed, Ligris would become an assistant attorney general for the Office of Justice Programs. The OJP is an agency under the Department of Justice best known for controlling criminal justice grants.

In Wednesday’s hearing, in clips surfaced by journalist Aaron Rupar, committee ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) grilled the DOJ nominee about tweets he had written insulting a number of politicians, including Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), as well as police officers as a whole.

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“I can’t imagine how you can defend some of the things that you’ve been posting for years, some of the things that you’ve written,” Durbin said. “There’s this awful tweet that you put in the record, a matter of public record, now. In light of what you’re seeking here… in 2024, Ligris referred to police officers as ‘dumb as dirt,’ close quote, when writing quote ‘breach of peace, typical cop dumb as dirt.’  And now you’re seeking a position to work with police departments all over the United States, and to give to these officers who risk their lives for you and me, officers which you’ve referred to as dumb as dirt. You’re going to be allocating federal funds. How could you do that?”

Ligris hedged and replied that he wasn’t familiar with the context and purged his tweets every 90 days “for cybersecurity,” but Durbin wasn’t having it. Durbin demanded he address the “dumb as dirt” comment. Ligris again said he didn’t know the context, but said that as “most of my family serves in law enforcement,” he did not think that “law enforcement is dumb as dirt.”

"That's it?" — Durbin confronts a Trump DOJ nominee named Konstantinos Ligris with some of his tweets — including calling Walz "tampon Tim," Biden officials "retarded," and referring to cops as "dumb as dirt" — and Ligris doesn't even try to defend them, leaving Durbin… pic.twitter.com/j8W7cxCulj

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 24, 2026

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) continued this line of questioning, focusing on tweets Ligris made insulting two members of the Judiciary Committee.

“You have tweets that call Donald Trump and Kamala Harris ‘two clowns,’ you have tweets that call Senator Murkowski ‘almost as dumb as Kamala,’ you have tweets that call Senator Collins a ‘fraud.’ You have tweets that call Senator [Alex] Padilla, who sits on this committee, a ‘thug.’ You have tweets that call Senator [Adam] Schiff a ‘fraud.’ He also sits on this committee. And you undertook no preparation to face questions about that as you come before the Senate Judiciary Committee,” Sen. Whitehouse asked.

The DOJ nominee said he hadn’t prepared to answer those questions, and confirmed he did not inform the DOJ about his tweet history. He added that the DOJ “never raised” any questions about the tweets with him. Sheldon then asked if Ligris could be relied on to approve grants filed from the state of California, which Padilla and Schiff represent.

WHITEHOUSE: You have tweets calling Donald Trump and Kamala Harris '2 clowns,' calling Murkowski 'almost as dumb as Kamala,' calling Sen. Collins 'a fraud,' calling Sen. Padilla a 'thug.' You didn't tell the DOJ about those tweets?

LIGRIS: No pic.twitter.com/59dZs66Jgj

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 24, 2026

“Having called Senator Padilla a thug at least five times, and Senator Schiff a fraud, what reasonably could they expect about you giving California programs a fair hearing if you’re put in charge of OJP?” Whitehouse asked.

“Every state and every jurisdiction would expect that they would go through the process of applying for grants with the Office of Justice Programs, and reviewed through the process… of applying for grants with the Office of Justice Programs, and those and those grant applications would would be administered and reviewed through the process of the of the department,” Ligris replied.

“Yeah, that’s what they would expect. And then there’d be a guy at the head of the program who thinks that the senators involved are a thug and a fraud. How do you convince us that you’re not going to let that personal bias against these two individuals affect your judgment?” Whitehouse fired back.

“Because I believe that the Office of Justice Programs has a mission to support the entire country, every state and every city, and protect our communities, irrespective of the elected leadership that exists there today or tomorrow,” he said.

“So, ‘just trust me,’ I guess, is what you’re saying,” Whitehouse said.

LIGRIS: I suspect you're quoting retweets or comments to other tweets

WHITEHOUSE: No. They're your tweets. You're responsible for knowing what you said. Don't put it on us to have to explain to us your own tweets. This is your mess, not ours. If you can't explain that, that's on… pic.twitter.com/l0k4NXhGsr

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 24, 2026

Ligris’ background is as a real estate attorney, but he went into the technology sector. He is currently a managing director at security consulting firm RoyStark as well as a director at CATIC Financial and CATIC Holdings, a title insurer, according to Criminal Justice Journalists Crime and Justice News Digest. He also founded the digital real estate platform Stavvy Inc., and the legal firm Ligris, which focuses on real estate.

Image via Shutterstock

President Donald Trump suddenly announced he was holding hostage a housing bill that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support until the SAVE America Act is passed. But Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said Trump will sign it anyway.

Trump was set to sign the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” which passed the Senate Monday 85-5 and the House Tuesday 393-13, on Wednesday afternoon. But those plans were thrown into chaos when he posted to Truth Social that he was cancelling the signing.

“Today’s Housing News Conference and Signing is hereby cancelled until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote. Shortly before on Wednesday morning, he had called for the end to the filibuster in order to pass the act.

READ MORE: ‘A Joke’: Trump’s Possible National Housing Emergency Sparks Fierce Backlash

The SAVE America Act—or Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act—would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and show photo ID when voting in federal elections. Trump claims the bill is necessary to prevent widespread election fraud, despite there being no evidence of voter fraud on a large scale. Though passed in the House, with Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), joining Republicans, the bill has languished in the Senate. Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said he will not bring the bill to a vote, because he knows it will not pass.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Johnson dismissed Trump’s bluster, and said that he would “understand it’s a good product” when he goes through the housing bill, and will ultimately sign it.

“When interest rates are high and costs are high, it makes the barrier to entry so high that young families can’t get into houses anymore. That’s not a Republican or Democrat problem, it’s an American problem, so, Americans are fixing it. And so, we’re going to reduce regulation so builders can build. We’re going to limit institutional investing in the housing market. We’re going to bring the American dream back within the grasp of hardworking American families,” Johnson said in a clip surfaced by journalist Aaron Rupar. “The president, when we go through the details of the bill, he’s going to understand that it’s a good product and certainly something that fulfills his promises to bring down the cost,”

Mike Johnson talks about President Trump like he's a toddler: "The president, when we go through the details of the bill, he's gonna understand it's a good product and something that fulfills his promises" pic.twitter.com/64KKvDaeTG

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 24, 2026

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act aims to increase the housing supply and drive down home prices. One of the main ways it does so is to limit institutional investors from purchasing homes, according to CBS News. It will also help local governments convert empty buildings zoned for commercial use into housing, and removes some regulations in building new houses.

Image via Reuters

President Donald Trump called for the end of the filibuster so the GOP can pass “everything” it “ever dreamed of.”

In a Wednesday morning post to his social media platform Truth Social, Trump stumped for the SAVE America Act over a housing bill drafted by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tim Scott (R-SC). That bill, the “21st Century ROAD to Housing Act,” passed the Senate Monday in a vote of 85-5 and heads to the House, where it is expected to pass.

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“The Elizabeth ‘Pocahontas’ Warren centric housing bill, which is of minor importance compared to lower interest rates, and even FISA, pales in comparison to passing THE SAVE AMERICA ACT. That is what Americans, both Dumocrats, Republicans, and everyone else, care about. Get the bad Republicans to approve it or, better yet, Terminate the Filibuster and approve it, AND EVERYTHING ELSE REPUBLICANS HAVE EVER DREAMED OF. The Dumocrats will do it in hour one, 100%. Republicans will feel very stupid if they don’t do it first. I’ll be watching with tears in my eyes!!!” Trump wrote.

The SAVE America Act—or Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act—would require Americans to provide proof of citizenship when registering to vote and show photo ID when voting in federal elections. Trump claims the bill is necessary to prevent widespread election fraud, despite there being no evidence of voter fraud on a large scale. Though passed in the House, with Henry Cuellar (D-TX), joining Republicans, the bill has languished in the Senate.

The Republicans have a Senate majority, with 53 versus 45 Democrats (and two independent senators who caucus with the Dems), but the bill is unlikely to pass. An earlier attempt to pass it as an amendment to the DHS appropriations bill failed with four Republicans (Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina) voting against it.

While if a vote were held, it is likely based on previous attempts that a simple majority could be reached, the bill would be filibustered. A filibuster is a way to require a bill be passed with a supermajority—60 votes, a threshold the SAVE America Act probably can’t reach. Even if all Republicans voted for it, which is itself unlikely, it would require seven Democrats to cross the aisle to vote for it.

Though Trump has repeatedly called to end the filibuster, Democrats have as well. In 2022, many donors pulled their funding from conservative-leaning Democratic Senators Joe Manchin (WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (AZ). At the time, Democrats called for the end of the filibuster to pass federal abortion rights after the fall of Roe v. Wade, but their attempts were stymied by Manchin and Sinema.

Image via Reuters