Yesterday, Trump and Vance virtually signed an agreement to end the blockade of Iranian ports, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and start 60 days of nuclear negotiations. Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, also signed the deal. But what has been achieved besides global economic insecurity, death, and destruction?
Norman Eisen sits down with U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) to hear his take on what Trump’s arrogance has wrought. The two also discuss the $1.776 billion slush fund and the atrocious Todd Blanche Attorney General nomination.
Peter Welch serves as the junior United States senator from Vermont. He sits on the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Subcommittee Ranking Member on Rural Development and Energy, Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee Ranking Member on the Constitution, Committee on Finance, and the Committee on Rules & Administration
The following transcript has been edited for formatting purposes.
Norman Eisen
We’re so pleased to have with us today, on The Contrarian, Senator Peter Welch. I’m fortunate I got to know the Senator during the impeachment of Donald Trump when he was in the House, and now proudly representing in the United States Senate. Welcome to the show, Senator.
Peter Welch
Thank you. It’s really good to see you, Norman. So appreciate the work you did with us in the House, and now that I’m in the Senate. But, really, really appreciate your work.
Norman Eisen
And I wanted to start us today with the so-called framework that Donald Trump and the, Iranians, are proclaiming. You learn everything you need to know about the framework from the fact that, Trump won’t release it. Tell us where we are on this misbegotten war with Iran, Senator.
Peter Welch
We’re nowhere. We’re worse off than before, Trump started the war. I mean, this is an astonishing and really, really terrible thing. Keep in mind, thousands of people died. We lost about 13 troops, that’s terrible. There were thousands of Iranians, there were thousands of Lebanese who died as a result of the bombing. But the objective… if you just take Trump and what his objectives were, one, he was going to topple the regime. now we have a new Ayatollah, same as the old Ayatollah. Number two, he was going to get rid of the nuclear material. No indication that that has happened. Number three, he was going to get rid of the ballistic missile programs. Even his own CIA says 75% of those are intact.
What did happen as a result of his war? The Strait of Hormuz closed. And Trump had the same arrogance that often befalls leaders who don’t have good judgment. He thought that the might of these B-52s with bunker buster bombs would take care of the problem. He had no appreciation for the asymmetric response that Iran was able to do with fast boats and with drones. in totally closing the Strait of Hormuz. So, you have a situation now where the outcome, which he’s not even revealed. is going to be worse than the Obama JCPOA, as it was called, that had intrusive inspections, and there was not nuclear activity going on in Iran. So, we’re way worse off. Also, Russia’s stronger. They’ve been able to sell more oil to finance their outrageous war against Ukraine, and China’s stronger. So this is a catastrophic, indication of very, very bad judgment on the part of our Commander-in-Chief. It’s a total epic failure.
Norman Eisen
How does the War Powers Act and the constitutional requirement to let Congress participate help avoid these kind of disasters?
Peter Welch
Well, first of all, the Congress has abdicated its authority. This is the biggest lament I have serving in the U.S. Senate. I have many Republican colleagues who I quite respect, but when you’re in the Senate, and you have under Article 1 the authority of budgeting. Appropriations. You have the authority of taxing, and you have the authority of making war or not. you can’t give up that authority and delegate it to the executive, and that’s what’s happened. Taxing authority, the tariffs, appropriations, his impoundments, which we fought back when it was Nixon, and now, of course, this illegal war, where he’s not come to Congress after 60 days. So, this is a real indictment of our Congress, where we’re not doing our job.
The whole point of war powers, the whole point of it in Article 1, the War Making Authority of Congress, it goes back to what Tocqueville was talking about. America is slow, slow, slow to go to war. But when it does it, and with the blessing of Congress, where that’s 435 districts representing people and all of us in the Senate, there’s a decisive action, a decision, that then motivates us to do that terrible action in a collective way. He totally bypassed that. There’s never been support for the war, and he’s running this whole thing in a half-baked way, with his Secretary of War, Hegseth, who obviously is not competent as to what he’s doing. But Congress has the authority and the responsibility to assert itself, and of course, as you know, Tim Kaine has been our leader here on the War Powers Act. We’ve had a number of votes, we’ve got a few Republican votes, but I believe that it’s absolutely vital for Congress to reassert its own authority.
Norman Eisen
If only the president had been able to consult with a truly active, Congress, it could have spared him and the American people and the people of the world this disaster.
One place where we have seen more bipartisan activity. has been on the President’s $1.8 billion slush fund, an endowment for violent insurrectionists and cop assaulters, among others, from January 6th. Tell us, what the current state of play is in Congress. Will we see congressional action to actually move legislatively to cut this slush fund off, or is it just talks?
Peter Welch
No, it’s more than just talk. I mean, there was pushback even from my Republican colleagues, where this was a corruption step one too far. I mean, it is pretty astonishing to have the president sue his own government. and then have Todd Blanch, his personal lawyer, who he then appoints to be Attorney General, but clearly serves President, to reach a, quote, settlement with the Trump family, where they put $1.8 billion of taxpayer money into a fund that the president doles out. And who’s he doling it out to? He’s doling it out to January 6th insurrectionists, and they were cop beaters, as you know.
So you have the president coming full circle. He incited folks to come here on January 6th when they committed crimes, and some of them were in prison, he pardoned them, and now, with the sledge fund, he wants to pay them. The good news here is that it was so shocking that even my Republican colleagues pushed back, and they’re quite fearful of Trump in doing any pushback. So now, Blanche says it’s off the table. But is it really? Is it really?
The judge is wanting to know what’s up here, and we can put a stake in that slush fund by passing legislation. But even Republicans who are against it don’t want to go that far and put their name on legislation. So the reality is that as long as we fail to have a legislative repudiation. than Trump, who’s saying this publicly, when asked by the press, he loves that slush fund. And they’re putting it on hold while they try to get through other issues here in Congress. So it’s not dead as far as Donald Trump is concerned, but we’ve got to kill it. That’s my view.
Norman Eisen
And of course, here at The Contrarian, our paid subscribers don’t just get the best journalism covering our democracy. All profits go to our pro-democracy litigation, and we filed that brief. On behalf of 35 former judges, appointed by presidents of both parties to have the Florida court, where the case originally was. reopen the matter and investigate, and that investigation has commenced. So, that court is a vehicle to look into not just the money. But the unholy settlement the release of liabilities, and the kind of super pardon for the Trump family, and we’re gonna keep a very sharp eye on the slush fund.
Senator, you mentioned one of Donald Trump’s Worst enablers and cronies. And that is the Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanch. His nomination has now been sent up to the Senate. You’re gonna be front and center for that nomination battle. What do you make of Blanche as a nominee for Attorney General, and what do you expect to unfold in the Senate, as his nomination is considered.
Peter Welch
It’s a corrupt appointment, and it’s a corrupt action on the part of Todd Blanch to be willing to be Attorney General when the condition of his being Attorney General is that his client is Donald Trump, as opposed to the American people. That’s the heart of this. He is signing on as Trump’s lawyer, and we see that, very clearly in his role in the $1.8 billion slush fund. That’s the corruption here, where you’re taking what is a public purpose. And the Attorney General public purpose is to uphold the constitutional rights of every single American, and he’s turning it into, essentially, private personal gain for the President of the United States.
So he has to be disqualified. We cannot appoint him or anyone else whose role is defined by President Trump to serve his interests as opposed to our constitutional shared responsibilities.
Norman Eisen
Do you think there’s any hope that some of your Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle will cross over to oppose Todd Blanch? If that nomination is not sufficient to draw dissidents and objectors from the Republican Party, what could be, Senator?
Peter Welch
Well, that’s actually the question, Norm. There should be absolutely not a single one of us who’d be willing to vote for an Attorney General who defines this job as being essentially the private attorney for the president. And that’s what he is. It’s just beyond… it’s really beyond question. But what is really sad here, for me, is that I have a lot of Republican colleagues who are terrified about Donald Trump, and look what’s happened. I mean, Trump does inflict a price. John Cornyn became the enemy of the president, and the president took him out in the Texas primary. And there’s just example after example of Trump doing that.
And what’s so disturbing here, obviously, is that it’s about the rule of law. I mean, Trump has no respect for that. The other thing, Trump has no respect for the Republican Party if he said that he doesn’t care about the midterms. And that is true. He doesn’t care about the midterms because he does not depend on Republican senators for his power. He relies on the MAGA crowd, the January 6th crowd, and it’s a very ominous Reality, because that is all that is behind his starting these efforts to interfere with the outcome of the next election. you know, and you saw that with Tulsi Gabbard going down to Atlanta. You see that with all the preliminary steps he’s taken, and that’s why I’m so grateful to you, Norm, and other attorneys who’ve been on the forefront of standing up and raising the alarm about the threat that Trump poses to this election. That’s real, because his power, he thinks, comes from this dedicated base that will do whatever it is he wants, enabled by people like Todd Blanch, who will do literally whatever he wants. the Constitution be damned, your civil rights be damned.
Norman Eisen
And he’s, preparing a one-two punch of installing Bill Pulte as the replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, another one who’s demonstrated he’ll do whatever he wants, and then Jay Clayton, a once-respected individual. But who, more recently, as the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, has been parroting these baseless election conspiracies. What do you make of the situation in the, office of the Director of National Intelligence, with this, Pulte-Clayton play that Donald Trump, has launched over there?
Peter Welch
Well, two things. Number one, the Director of National Intelligence has to have a security clearance. Bill Pulte doesn’t even have that. What does that say? It says that President Trump is not looking to have somebody who’s qualified to do the work of the Director of National Intelligence, overseeing the work of 18 intelligence agencies. He’s looking to have somebody who will use intelligence for the benefit of Trump in whatever nefarious things he’s up to. And that means you’ve got to get a person who answers to Trump And who defines his job as doing whatever it is the president wants, as opposed to what the national security requires. So it’s very typical, it’s sort of… it’s very similar to, to Todd Blanch. You know, Todd Blanch was a qualified attorney. but who abandoned the purpose of serving the people of this country, and redefined AG as the private attorney of the president. Pulte would do the same thing, and they would weaponize the intelligence for use against Trump’s perceived enemies. So, this is a pattern where Trump sees his office as something that he can use for his own personal advancement, his own personal enrichment, his own personal pursuit of vengeance, which is a pretty weird motivation for a person who is the most powerful individual in the world. I mean, most people who get in office like that think, maybe I’ll do a little good for the people that elected me, but I think he just can’t let go of this anger and this vengeance.
Norman Eisen: And as, bad as Pulte is. The idea that he’s gonna be replaced by Jay Clayton, Who has, trafficked In these election conspiracies as of late, and who’s shown himself, for example, in the… his tenure, including the firing of Maureen Comey, shown himself to be a lackey to the president. Not much better, extremely alarming. But, Senator, we’re very fortunate that we have you and your colleagues there in the Senate to fight the good fight. I know our contrarians Love having you with us. Very grateful to you for joining us today to cover all the things.
Peter Welch
Norm, I just want to say this, it’s so important what you’re doing, it’s so important what your subscribers are doing. You know, we’re all dismayed about the corruption of Trump and his recklessness going to war, where people die unnecessarily. But what Trump has done, and we’re going to take back. he stripped us of a sense of purpose as a country. It’s all about getting ahead, making more money, elbowing the other guy out of the way, stepping on their neck, doing whatever it takes to get ahead. Americans are like… they like to work hard, but they want to think at the end of the month, they’re half a step ahead, not two steps behind. And they like to be helpful to their family and to their community. It enriches us to do that. Trump degrades us with his disparaging of purpose and generosity. So, the Constitution, we’re gonna fight for it, you’re leading the way, your subscribers are leading the way, but it’s all about us having a chance to build a stronger community and a stronger America.
Norman Eisen
Thank you, Senator. Thanks for being with us, Contrarians. Thanks for being part of the fight. We’ll see you soon.
