Dem
47
GOP
53
Todd Blanche got rid of the "acting" title on Saturday, when all but two Senate Republicans confirmed him as the next Attorney General. That is a difficult sentence to write. The U.S. Attorney General is the country's highest law enforcement officer and he or she is charged with upholding and enforcing federal law on the public's behalf. His job does not involve carrying out the get-richer-quick schemes and retribution campaign of a deranged president (or a sane president, for that matter). It also does not involve pledging to certain groups, like anti-abortion groups, that he will manipulate the law and act beyond his authority to serve their goals.
Republicans are well aware that Blanche is unfit to serve in that office and that he will continue to corrupt the Department of Justice that he oversees. But they did what they so often do and waved their hands around a bit before folding like a cheap suit. For his part, Blanche waved around a meaningless piece of paper to claim that the slush fund for Capitol rioters is dead and that the immunity scam won't apply to Trump's pals. But ultimately, the performative theater by Blanche that got some Senators to "yes" isn't what will determine whether these corrupt deals will live or die. There are two ongoing court cases that will actually determine their fate.
The first is the order by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida finding that Trump and Blanche committed a fraud on the court by filing the bogus lawsuit against the IRS, purporting to "settle" it, and then dismissing it without any formal response from the government. Based on this finding, she imposed what's called Rule 11 sanctions. In addition to sanctioning Trump's attorneys and referring Blanche to the New York state bar, her order also prohibits the parties from relying on this so-called deal in any future proceedings. That means that future investigations and civil/criminal cases involving Trump's tax dealings or any other wrongdoing like bribery and blackmail of businesses, law firms, universities and foreign governments can't be held up in court by this bogus agreement.
Not surprisingly, Trump has appealed Williams' order to the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh is usually friendly territory for Trump, but even they might have trouble putting an imprimatur of legitimacy on this overt scam.
In the second court case, in June, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, in the Eastern District of Virginia, granted a preliminary injunction prohibiting the slush fund from going forward. The judge said the injunction would remain in effect until Blanche provided a written declaration under penalty of perjury to the court attesting that the fund would not be implemented. Needless to say, such a declaration has not been submitted. Now, the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents IRS workers, has asked to join the lawsuit to contest the immunity deal. They argue that their members would be forced to break the law, which prohibits terminating ongoing tax audits if the deal stays in place. According to the complaint, "Under the Immunity Order, career IRS employees will be forced to terminate ongoing audits of the President and his businesses, giving the President a lucrative and unconstitutional emolument. That would be unprecedented under any circumstance; it is all the more remarkable considering that the President profited an eye-popping $2.2 billion after returning to the White House." So, even if the Eleventh Circuit overturns Judge Williams' sanctions, the merits of this deal will still be litigated in Judge Brinkema's courtroom.
But regardless of the ultimate status of this backroom deal, Blanche can still misuse his position to pay off Trump's collaborators and give Trump and his businesses free passes they wouldn't ordinarily be entitled to. One way to do that is to use the Federal Tort Claims Act to pay out claims that the DoJ would normally reject. Before a member of the public can sue the federal government, they must first submit a claim to give the feds the opportunity to assess the claim. If it's deemed valid, the government can settle the claim without litigation. What we're seeing now is the DoJ under Blanche encouraging the filing of false claims and quietly paying them out as if they were legitimate. For example, Blanche approved a 7-figure payout to a man convicted of obstructing access to an abortion clinic. Similar payouts have been made to Michael Flynn, Carter Page and the family of Ashli Babbitt.
If the Democrats retake the House and Senate, they could amend the FTCA to stop this corruption by requiring an additional level of review for certain claims and amounts. Such a bill would be filibusterable, however, so it would be an open question of whether the blue team would have the stomach for a carve-out or if, alternatively, there would be enough Republicans opposed to overt corruption to join the Democrats and vote for cloture. Both possibilities seem a little remote, but you never know, we suppose. (L)