A special prosecutor in former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder trial faced Republican questioning during his confirmation hearing to the federal bench Wednesday over alleged comments he made that disparaged policing.

The line of questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee was ultimately withdrawn, but Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, tried to link Jerry Blackwell to a quote he alleged the nominee for the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota made related to Chauvin’s trial: “The biggest trouble in the trial was getting the public to question its trust in policing.”