Listening to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Wednesday on whether to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General was akin to stepping into another dimension, Twilight Zone-like, in which what we are told is not what we see.
Unlike other Donald Trump Cabinet appointees, Blanche faced no substantive questions about his background – though court opinions, judges and now bar associations have plenty of issues with the legality of various actions he has ordered as acting Attorney General.
Instead, questions from Democrats on the split committee went right after whether Blanche can show any independence from Trump on using the Justice Department as a vehicle for Trump's constant and continuing retribution campaign against political enemies and for clearing legal hurdles for his favored friends. Sharply worded questions from Democrats were a nonstop set of challenges to the record already built by Blanche, while much of Republican questioning was in support of his least offensive actions – would he support antitrust work in agriculture, for example.
Questions from some Republicans, including John Cornyn of Texas, spurned for reelection by Trump, focused on poor decisions based on legal tenets even more than political ones. Thom Tillis, outgoing senator from North Carolina, jumped on pardons for those convicted of violence against Capitol police on Jan. 6, 2021, and pardons for others.
Blanche's nomination may not make it out of the Judiciary Committee, chaired by Iowa Republican Chuck Grassley. With Lindsay Graham's death, there are 11 Republicans, including Cornyn and Tillis. There are 10 Democrats.
Listening to Blanche
To listen to Blanche was to accept that the Justice Department has been wiping out violent crime, removing political focus from within the Justice Department, pursuing antitrust monopolies, and pushing to prosecute "anyone" who did harm to Jeffrey Epstein victims – all inside-out readings on what we see unfolding every day.
At times, it sounded as if Blanche, who, like Trump himself, seemed to live in another dimension marked by the opposite experience of reality.
On Epstein alone, Blanche was insisting that he, other Justice Department officials and the FBI all have been and are open to meeting with Epstein victims who say they have not gotten a meeting for years. Blanche told senators that he and Justice have fully complied with the law passed by Congress requiring disclosure of millions of documents never released. Blanche defended meeting with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell after her conviction, but said he did not discuss clemency or her move to a minimum-security prison camp.
On his leadership role in signing off on Trump's $1.776-billion slush fund, Blanche insisted that it is not moving ahead but not explaining why he would not put that statement in writing. Blanche defended his agreement on exempting Trump, his family and businesses from outstanding tax obligations worth upwards of $100 million even though the judge in the case has ruled that the lawsuit and its settlements were illegal and unethical manipulations of the court.
There were like sort-of denials about decisions to pass on prosecutions of border agents in deportation-related shootings or refusing to share evidence with local prosecutors in Minnesota and other communities.
Blanche ducked questions from Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, about numerous reports of abuse of office by FBI Director Kash Patel.
What tied them together was Blanche's consistent self-belief and confidence that the Justice Department has been an effective and fair law enforcement agency amid now-daily concerns about acting solely on behalf of Trump loyalists and against perceived enemies.
Blanche was protected by committee rulings that held all questioning to 10 minutes per senator – less time than afforded for other Cabinet members – and by using "still under investigation" language to dance around anything remotely controversial.
The Independence Question
Anyone listening would have to say that Blanche sees no conflict with running Justice as acting essentially as Trump's personal law firm. In any sane political world, that should be enough to sink his confirmation. As reminded by Sen. Cory Booker, D-NJ, his job is to represent the American people, not Trump.
But this is a highly partisan Senate divide, and, in the end, it will be the slight majority rule that will prevail.
As Joyce Vance, former U.S. Attorney and legal commentator notes: "Blanche has refused Trump virtually nothing," including support to the insurrection, pardon Rudy Giuliani and the fake slates of electors, and all those convicted. "It has only gone downhill from there" to the Epstein files mess, a pardon process that has eliminated review, Blanche's prosecution of Trump-demanded cases against perceived enemies, and the abandonment of Civil Rights, antitrust, white collar crime, counterintelligence cases and more from a Justice Department that is either firing or losing prosecutors by the dozens.
Christopher Swartz of Democracy Defenders Action simply argues that during Blanche's tenure the Department has gone from a beacon of competent, independent, and impartial law enforcement to a political attack dog of the president with investigations of James Comey, Letitia James, Lisa Cooke and others. Under Blanche, Justice has brought several cases that lacked probable cause or that failed to adhere to basic prosecutorial requirements, earning rebuke from judges who have found that Justice is no longer entitled to a presumption of trustworthiness.
Statements from senators who say they are withholding judgment to hear how Blanche explains his relationship to Trump are ignoring how Blanche has been doing the job in his acting role – which Vance sees as "unprecedented and deeply disturbing."
Even if the nomination fails to advance, Senate Majority Leader John Thune could file a discharge motion to put Blanche's nomination before the full Senate – minus Mitch McConnell, who remains in a rehab center.
As a single image of the state of law in the U.S. as providing equal protection, this hearing offered a shattered mirror of disfunction.
The Intelligence Hearing
Meanwhile, a similar confirmation hearing was underway before the Intelligence Committee to confirm Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney in New York, as a permanent director of national intelligence, coordinating the work of 18 intelligence agencies. He would replace acting DNI Bill Pulte, who is using the office at Trump's direction, to re-investigate 2020 election allegations about "rigging."
In his short time as acting DNI, Pulte has fired intelligence officials and sent others back to their home agencies.
Much like the Blanche hearing, the questioning was partisan and pointed. It ranged from general questions about the appropriate size of the DNI staff to more focused concerns about Clayton's issuance of subpoenas among New York Times reporters towards learning the sources of government leaks. At one point Clayton said he was "not an election denier," but would not concede that Trump had lost in 2020 to Joe Biden.