How to Kill the Blanche Nomination

Democrats must focus on the most powerful issue.

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi quickly proved herself to be the most legally ignorant, dishonest, and ethically challenged person ever to head the Justice Department. However, if her former deputy and now-Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is nominated and confirmed for the permanent job, she by comparison would seem like one of giants who have held the post (e.g., Robert H. Jackson, Edward H. Levi).

Blanche, whom Donald Trump said last week he would nominate for attorney general, has presided over the shoddiest lawyering in the history of the DOJ, which has earned unprecedented denunciations of federal judges (for, among other things, defying court orders and making material misrepresentations to courts), Blanche has been the tip of the spear in Donald Trump’s weaponization of the Justice Department and government-wide corruption operation.

(White House photo)

Making clear his first loyalty is to Trump (“I love you, Sir”), not to the Constitution, Blanche has been at the wheel of vindictive prosecutions against Trump enemies, including Kilmar Abrego Garcia, former FBI Director James Comey (in the infamous seashell case), journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort (a First Amendment travesty), and the civil rights legacy organization the Southern Poverty Law Center. He has been instrumental in turning the DOJ into a discredited, weaponized operation that has lost thousands of dedicated lawyers disgusted with the Trump regime.

Although directed to recuse himself from cases in which he represented Trump as a private citizen, he has continued to pursue Trump’s conspiracy-based inquests and investigations. He defended pardons of the violent January 6 felons and then authored the widely denounced (and, for now, discarded) slush-fund-for-secessionists. That deal, coupled with the legally suspect waiver of Trump’s tax liability, gives him the distinction of crafting the most corrupt scheme in presidential history.

However, far and away the single most compelling reason — and potentially the most politically damaging — for denying him the job came from Bondi herself. Blanche’s central role in the Epstein files coverup, which Bondi confirmed, should make his nomination a nonstarter.

Certainly, there are innumerable reasons for denying the job of heading the Justice Department to someone so obviously lacking independent judgment and respect for the rule of law and who is devoid of credibility, but if there is a single issue that should galvanize Republicans, Democrats, and independents — and pose a lethal threat to Republicans’ control of the Senate — it would be Trump’s demand that Republicans link arms with the Epstein coverup architect.

In her interview with the House Oversight Committee, Bondi struck a blow from which Blanche’s nomination should never recover. CNN, relying on the transcript of her interview, reported, “Bondi sought to distance herself from how her department handled the Epstein files as the Trump administration continues to deal with the political fallout.” Bondi threw Blanche under the bus, testifying, “He was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files.” Bondi made clear that the decision to withhold 3 million files required by law to be released was not hers.

Blanche also made the bizarre trip to visit Epstein accomplice and convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, who then was transferred to cushier surroundings (a move Blanche defended). Why would the No. 2 man at DOJ talk to her when the potential for incriminating testimony (in exchange for a pardon) was all too real?

Again, the Maxwell encounter was not Bondi’s handiwork. The Guardian reported, “During Bondi’s testimony last week, she also told lawmakers that she learned of the controversial prison transfer of Maxwell through news reports ‘after it happened,’ claiming: ‘I had nothing to do with that.’” Does anyone think Blanche was also in the dark?

The Epstein coverup, of which Blanche is the chief orchestrator, has revealed the moral and legal rot at the core of the Trump regime in a way no other scandal, lawless escapade, or assault on constitutional norms has. In direct violation of the law, Blanche refused to release all documents. At least according to Bondi, he is also responsible for the egregious errors and violations of victims’ privacy in failing to make appropriate redactions. Nothing better epitomizes the abuse of power on behalf of Trump and the creation of a two-tiered system of justice than Blanche’s Epstein handiwork.

It’s not simply the magnitude of the Epstein debacle that should push it to the top of the reasons to block Blanche’s nomination. The Epstein scandal was the first and remains the hottest flashpoint between Trump and his Republican base and thereby offers the most promise for peeling off Republican support for Blanche. In effect, Trump is asking the Senate to give a stamp of approval to the man who defied their own legislative directive to release all the files.

The Epstein coverup is the first serious breach with Senate and House Republicans; the first time Trump was unable to fend off a politically harmful vote (on the Epstein Files Transparency Act). Asking the Senate to confirm Blanche would amount to a demand the Senate affirm and continue the corrupt coverup at the expense of Epstein’s victims and any semblance of the rule of law.

Asking senators to ignore Blanche’s violations of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, his dissembling about Maxwell, and his arrogant refusal to respond to Congress’s legitimate concerns and reward Blanche with the top law enforcement job should be a complete dealbreaker.

For Republican senators up for re-election (Maine’s Susan Collins, Ohio’s Jon Husted, Alaska’s Dan Sullivan) as well as newly unmuzzled Republicans (John Cornyn of Texas and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana) and Republicans most resistant to demands to fall in line behind the MAGA cult (Rand Paul of Kentucky, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska), the implications of Blanche’s nomination could not be clearer: A vote to confirm Blanche is a vote to continue the coverup and inflict egregious harm on Epstein’s victims.

In sum, Democrats would be wise to be strategic in their opposition to Blanche. Throwing the kitchen sink at him may be satisfying, but taking Democrats and those already inclined to oppose Blanche down the memory of lane of his offenses should not be the aim. If the goal is to stop Blanche, defenders of decency, the rule of law, and the rights of abuse victims should drill down on Trump’s worst scandal and most vulnerable issue.

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