Todd Blanche walked into the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning carrying the worst résumé any attorney general nominee has had in modern memory. Bar none — and bar is not a pun because Blanche could be disbarred.
How far down we have sunk.
Blanche has a documented role in burying Epstein files, his own emails show he ran Trump’s retribution campaign, and a federal judge’s ink is still wet on a ruling accusing him of helping the president manipulate the courts.
He should have walked out a broken man. Instead, he walked out on track to be confirmed, and Democrats on that committee need to look hard at why. They should be ashamed of themselves.
Blanche is the man Pam Bondi told lawmakers under oath was “in charge of the process and the entire release” of the Epstein files. He’s the man whose own emails, unearthed by Glenn Thrush at the New York Times, show him personally convening the DOJ’s “weaponization working group” against Trump’s enemies.
He’s the man a federal judge referred to state bar associations two days ago, calling his role in shielding Trump from IRS scrutiny part of a lawsuit “brought for an improper purpose.” More than 1,200 former Justice Department employees signed a letterurging the Senate to reject him.
That is the mile-long target Democrats had sitting in front of them today. And with only two exceptions, they missed him completely.
Sen. Cory Booker seemed to grasp what was at stake, and Sen. Adam Schiff pressed Blanche on what happened to the prosecutor he used to be, the one who worked in the Southern District of New York, versus the man now running interference for Trump — though even that line of attack didn’t land the way it needed to.
But watching the hearing in full, what you mostly saw were senators just taking their turns separately, instead of building a solid case against Blanche. His nomination is a five-alarm fire, and Democrats just ho-hummed along.
Sen. Dick Durbin got his moment, reminding Blanche of his own line from a press conference, “I love you, sir,” toward Donald Trump, whom he’s supposed to be independent of. Sen. Chris Coons got Blanche to admit, almost offhandedly, that he doesn’t believe Trump is eligible for a third term.
Sen. Peter Welch announced he’ll vote no. Gee, really? And then bizarrely, he spent real time on Mel Gibson’s pardon and gun rights. Rome is burning Sen. Welch, and no one gives a rat’s a– about Mel Gibson. But everyone cares about the Epstein survivors.
Shockingly, they were mostly forgotten about today.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse got in a jab about Kash Patel, but what did he expect Blanche to do? Agree with him that Patel is billing taxpayers for personal travel and drinks too much? Yes, Blanche would be his boss if confirmed, but the enemy today was Blanche, not Patel. Or Mel Gibson, for that matter.
The Democrats on the committee were not coordinated — at all. They never divided up the fertile ground of Blanche’s crimes and allegiance to Trump, and they let Blanche control the clock instead of the other way around.
Today was a Democratic strategy fail of epic proportions.
Blanche was there to answer for three disqualifying things, and Democrats never forced him into a corner, into a confrontation. They never drew blood. He had to concede that “mistakes were made” on the Epstein redactions, a pithy explanation for exposing survivors’ identifying information.
He got to say the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is “dead” without ever being pinned down on why he spent months defending it and refused to put its cancellation in writing when a judge asked him to.
He got to lean on “the Constitution gives the president the power to pardon anybody” as a dodge on the horrific pardons of the criminals, insurrectionists, and the white nationalists of January 6th.
Meanwhile, Republicans played their part flawlessly. Chairman Grassley opened by praising Blanche as “well qualified” and pivoted almost immediately into attacking Democrats for calling the department “a disgrace.”
Democrats are right, and the disgrace was in the witness chair, and they never made that connection.
It fell to two Republicans, not the Democratic minority, to land the hearing’s sharpest blows: John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, both on the committee, both irritated enough about the anti-weaponization fund’s stench of self-dealing to actually press Blanche on it. But most of what they said seemed to support Trump and seemed to hint that they’ll vote to move Blanche’s nomination to a vote on the Senate floor.
So, barring a surprise, Blanche advances. He becomes Attorney General. He goes back to being Donald Trump’s lawyer instead of being an independent Attorney General leading an independent Justice Department.
The retribution campaign goes on. The Epstein files stay exactly as unresolved as Blanche wants them to stay. And, somehow, someway, Trump’s $1.8 billion weaponization fund will live to see another day. Just watch.
Today was supposed to be the moment Democrats made Todd Blanche’s nomination too toxic for wavering Republicans to support.
They should have approached today the way the January 6th committee once turned scattered facts into an undeniable narrative by dividing the work and issues among themselves, and building the case methodically.
Instead, today looked like a committee where everyone had a good line, and nobody had a gotcha, gobsmacking moment.
If this is how Democrats show up in November, the party has much bigger problems than one bad confirmation hearing. They need to buck up or else we will be paying for their meh and malaise.
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