The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday to confirm the Todd Blanche nomination for Attorney General of the United States that will go to a full vote before the U.S. Senate.
Democrats in the committee all were unanimously not in favor of advancing Blanche.
Starting with Democratic Senator Whitehouse, Blanche was called out with Donald Trump in their joint cover-up of the Epstein files. Senator Whitehouse also accused Blanche for a massive screw-up of the release of the documents.
Whitehouse came with the proof. He claimed there were four 302 documents, date stamped so it’s confirmed there were four, and in one of them, there was testimony from a woman who told the FBI in a formal statement that she had been sexually assaulted and physically assaulted by Donald Trump around 13 or 14 years of age. Out of the four 302’s released they only provided three out of the four. Of course, they did not release the one that made statements about Trump assaulting a woman. So much for transparency.
Presently, Todd Blanche is still sitting on 37 pages of what almost certainly must be the agent’s notes off which the three 302’s were taken that should be disclosed under the Epstein files law but instead those 37 pages remain hidden by the DOJ.
Democratic Senator Schiff mentioned that Todd Blanche has violated his code of ethics, blatantly misled this committee in testimony, supported the establishment of a fund for cop beaters, concealed and covered up documents implicating the president in the Epstein files, gone after the president’s enemies, and used the DOJ to enrich the president in a collusive settlement.
So, this is who the Republican Senators plan to confirm as Attorney General. The fundamental problem with Tod Blanche is not that he’s inexperienced, not that he’s not capable, not that he’s not intelligent. The main problem is that he has never been able to shed his role as criminal defense lawyer for Donald Trump.
Todd Blanche does not represent the American people now. He will never represent the American people. He will never do what’s best for the American people. He will only do what’s best for Donald Trump. And you cannot leave someone like that as the nation’s number one law enforcement official, not when you have a corrupt president engaged in the most unprecedented acts, and self-enriching schemes we have ever seen. You just can’t do it and hope to have anything left of the rule of law.
Senator Booker talked about how Todd Blanche moved Ghislaine Maxwell from one facility in Tallahassee, where she was imprisoned for engaging in child sex trafficking with Jeffrey Epstein and moved her to Camp Bryan in Texas, where she got a reward for helping cover up things for Donald Trump. Senator Booker did not hold back. It’s unprecedented and corrupt, yet this is the man that the Republican Senators want as the top law official of the land. Todd Blanche did not study case files and he didn’t talk to the prosecutors who proved her guilty as an accomplice of Jeffrey Epstein. Instead, he ran to the jail cell and met with Ghislaine for two days, insulting every single Epstein victim that had been asking for a meeting for years. After those two days, did we get information that led to an indictment? Obviously not. Trump still has yet to be formally implicated. No information out of the meeting led to any new investigations. Ghislaine Maxwell is a convicted sex offender and because of Todd Blanche, she was able to leave her confinement in maximum security, and go to one of the cushiest prisons in the United States. That is supposedly a violation of prison law, by DOJ law and a direct violation of DOJ principles, yet Todd Blanche is the stand-up guy for Republicans to be the next Attorney General. Blanche is breaking the laws of the agency he plans to lead.
Todd Blanche is not the people’s lawyer as he should be. He’s not America’s lawyer. As stated in the hearing, Todd Blanche “is about to become Trump’s sword against his adversaries and shield against any scrutiny. The shield is going to shield Trump from tax cheating. The shield is going to shield him from investigation for any involvement he may have had in the Epstein’s deeds.”
It’s also unprecedented that the Attorney General would investigate colleagues on this committee, but he has done just that.
Blanche has faced scrutiny over the Justice Department’s efforts to create a $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund. The fund, which stemmed from a lawsuit between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service, was put on hold after a federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking its creation.
The Senate Judiciary Committee, consisting of 11 Republicans, and 10 Democrats chaired by Chuck Grassley (Republican – Iowa) and ranking member Dick Durbin (Democrat – Illinois) when for the vote in an attempt to advance the nomination to the full Senate. The vote was down partisan lines, as eleven people voted for the Blanche nomination, and ten people voted against. Nothing that the Democrats said at the hearing mattered to the Republicans. Todd Blanche could have shot someone in the back and could have gotten away with it from this Republican led committee. Blanche is protected by Trump and is getting away with it because it’s Trump’s will.