Dem
47
GOP
53
Donald Trump first named his personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, to be deputy AG, and then acting AG. Now that Trump has cashiered his first pick for AG this term, Pam Bondi, he has nominated Blanche for the top job at the DoJ. Yesterday, Blanche appeared before a skeptical Senate Judiciary Committee to allow the senators to see how good he is at lying with a straight face.
Here are four areas that came up yesterday:
Since the death of Lindsey Graham, there are 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee. If one Republican votes with the Democrats to reject confirmation, the nomination is dead. Two Republican skeptics are on the Committee, Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), neither of whom is running for reelection, so Trump can't punish them with a primary. Both questioned Blanche about the slush fund. Having the government give the president $2 billion to reward cronies and punish enemies is without a doubt the most blatant corruption in the history of the United States. Will Cornyn and Tills pretend they don't see this and vote to confirm? Tillis also pushed Blanche on the Jan. 6 rioters. Blanche said he has "never said that any sort of violence against law enforcement is appropriate." Nevertheless, he refused to condemn Trump for pardoning people who beat cops.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) brought up a letter signed by 1,200 current and former DoJ employees stating that Blanche is unfit to be AG. Blanche didn't respond. Booker also asked why Blanche could meet with Ghislaine Maxwell but not with Epstein's victims. Blanche said it would be illegal for him to meet with them, but did not explain why that would be the case. Booker said that was nonsense and victims could bring counsel or waive their rights. Then he added: "But you're a lawyer. You know this. That was not truthful." Booker also asked Blanche about the propriety of his attending a dinner with Paramount's CEO, David Ellison, at a time when the DoJ was investigating whether Paramount's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery violated antitrust law.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) ripped FBI Director Kash Patel and asked: "How long do you intend to put up with that Kash Patel character? Are you good with his airplane jaunts? Are you confident he's not drinking on the job? Are you sure none of his travel is a pretext for vacation activities like snorkeling, Olympics, and visiting girlfriends?" Blanche had a brilliant answer: "That's an extraordinarily obnoxious question, senator."
One question Blanche was overjoyed to answer was from Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), who asked him if he was prepared to crack down on the availability of mifepristone through the mail. Boy was he ever happy to say he would crack down on that and would devote major resources to doing it.
These confirmation hearings are a total waste of time. The nominees often lie through their teeth (see Kennedy, Robert Jr.). The senators know this, but pretend not to. Fixing this situation would require new legislation, and maybe a constitutional amendment. What would do the job is to have a confirmation be for a limited period of time—say, 1 year, not indefinitely. Then after the trial period, the nominee would have to come back for a second confirmation for the rest of the president's term. At that point, the senators could see whether all the promises the nominee made during the first hearing were kept. If not, they could deny a second confirmation. Of course, the nominee could lie the second time, but by then, the senators would have had the chance to observe the nominee in action.
Blanche's hearing will continue today. If the Senate rejects him, Blanche can stay on as deputy AG for the rest of Trump's term because the Senate confirmed him for that job. If he is rejected, all Trump has to do is leave the AG position open until Jan. 20, 2029, and Blanche will de facto have the powers of the AG until then, just not the title he covets. (V)