Over 100 Judges Can’t be Wrong: Why Todd Blanche is Unfit to be Attorney General
Publisher's Roundup 75
This week, we’ll see the confirmation hearings for Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general. Though you should never bet against the cowardice of the Trump majority in the Senate, Blanche’s disgraceful lack of ethics — including in his mishandling of the Epstein files — has amply demonstrated why he should not get their votes.
But don’t just take my word for it. Instead, consider the evidence represented by the word of over 100 former judges. Their bar complaint asking the New York State Bar to investigate Blanche for multiple ethics issues is a shocking expose. We at Democracy Defenders Fund with Lawyers Defending American Democracy were proud to represent the judges — and to lay out what is in effect an epic indictment of the acting AG.
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Let’s start with Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund. As the judges’ complaint outlines, Blanche helped orchestrate an egregious settlement between Trump as a private citizen and the Trump administration. This sweetheart deal would have green-lit payouts to Trump allies, including Jan. 6 insurrectionists who attacked law enforcement, from a taxpayer-funded $1.776 billion fund. The terms of this settlement also purport to shield Trump, his family, and their businesses from all investigations by the IRS or other agencies for any past conduct — unheard-of treatment for any American president.
As we and the judges said in the complaint, “This extraordinary ‘sight unseen’ global release of liability not only violates longstanding norms established in the Justice Manual, but it could serve as the functional equivalent of a backdoor blanket pardon—inoculating President Trump, his family, and any ‘related or affiliated individuals’ from federal oversight to the overwhelming prejudice of the interests of Mr. Blanche’s client: the United States.”
In addition, Blanche oversaw a growing list of abusive and frivolous investigations against perceived opponents of the administration and personal foes of Trump. Our complaint highlights two examples: Kilmar Abrego Garcia and James Comey. A judge threw out the Abrego Garcia indictment, concluding that “[t]he evidence before this Court sadly reflects an abuse of prosecuting power.” And both of Comey’s indictments, also on such limited grounds, suggest that Blanche and his Justice Department were seeking to punish one of Trump’s chief “political enemies.”
Last, and perhaps worst of all, we demonstrate that Blanche’s personal involvement in the bungled release of the Epstein files is also cause for investigation. Not only did he oversee the failure to properly redact the names of nearly 100 victims, but he also failed to release information required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act. As if that were not bad enough, Blanche’s “communications and actions suggest that he may have been motivated to end inquiries into the Epstein files to protect Mr. Trump and himself in violation of his duty of loyalty to the United States,” the Bar complaint noted. As Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) expressed in his recent Contrarian essay, “A government of laws is the opposite of what Blanche wants; he wants all the laws flat before Trump.”
Others also have been speaking out. This week, just days before his confirmation hearing, more than 1,200 former Department of Justice employees urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Blanche’s nomination, warning that he has compromised the DOJ’s independence and integrity. The Justice Connection deserves credit for organizing this extraordinary, unprecedented effort, bringing together DOJ alumni from 14 administrations with thousands of years of collective experience in defense of the Justice Department. Their letter aptly points out that under Blanche’s leadership, more than 16,000 employees have left the DOJ, including over a quarter of its attorneys — many of whom were forced to choose between keeping their jobs and carrying out vindictive prosecutions and other unethical assignments.
Former pardon attorney Liz Oyer wrote an extraordinary missive to the Judiciary Committee as well. She recounts that Blanche fired her after she refused to fulfill a request from his office to use her official position to advance a favor for a friend of the president — restoring federal firearms rights to an individual convicted of domestic abuse. And in an effort to prevent Oyer from informing Congress about his actions, Blanche directed U.S. Marshals to deliver an intimidating letter to her home and initiated an — in our view — unfounded professional misconduct complaint against her.
There you have it Contrarians. It’s a compelling case against Blanche, and you are a part of it — thanks to your paid subscriptions. If you are not a paid subscriber, please consider becoming one.
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Todd Blanche should be no where near the DOJ. He is protecting Ghislaine Maxwell, a pedophile and associate of Jeffrey Epstein. He is the reason why she’s at a Country Club style minimum security facility. He should be dumped.
If the Senate approves the appointment of Trump's personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, as Attorney General, then there is no serious role Congress can play in holding the executive branch accountable for its appointments. This illustrates America's decline as a liberal democracy.