Still Have Questions About Todd Blanche?
Our own Norm Eisen and April Ryan have answers! Enjoy an excerpt from "The Tea."
Contrarians, in case any of you missed Norm’s cameo on “The Tea” with April Ryan, we wanted to share their conversation here. You won’t get the full benefit of their shared laughter and infectious hope, but you will get a quick primer on what happened with Todd Blanche, what it means, and what comes next for the Acting Attorney General, in the wake of the shocking postponement of his nomination before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
[This has been lightly edited for clarity. View the full appearance here.]
April: Today we have a special guest — none other than, as the New York Times calls him, the “Attorney General of the Resistance.” The great, the one and only, The Contrarian’s Norm Eisen. Hello, Norm!
Norm: Hello, April!
So Norm — we’re talking about Todd Blanche again. But this time, the president has posted something about Blanche and a potential withdrawal. How does this play out legally, and can he keep his job as acting AG?
Well, it’s an unresolved legal question whether he can permanently keep that acting job. But you know what’s not unresolved, April? Donald Trump threw Todd Blanche under the bus today!
Why is that? Because Republicans were like, “I don’t know,” is that right?
Exactly. Let’s back up for our audience. Todd Blanche is currently the Deputy Attorney General, nominated to be Acting AG. The problem is that he needs a unanimous vote from all the Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee — all 12 of them. If he loses even one, the committee deadlocks 11–11, he doesn’t advance, and he can’t be confirmed. There’s no other way out of committee.
Two of those twelve Republicans — speaking, I think, for a larger, quieter group that’s afraid of Trump — have said, “Wait a minute, Todd Blanche. You negotiated the $1.8 billion slush fund for Trump, and you negotiated a super pardon and settlement package that goes with it. That stinks.” Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have demanded written proof that he’s dumping the slush fund. Blanche wants to give that proof, but it seems like the White House won’t let him.
They’re not saying it outright, but the president won’t let him.
Right — he wants his slush fund, he wants his settlement. So he posted, essentially, “I’ll just take Todd Blanche back. I’ll let him be acting attorney general, and I’ll renominate him later.” But that creates a very complicated set of legal problems.
So, what are those legal problems? You’ve got Democrats and Republicans — specifically Republicans — now questioning Todd Blanche. And Blanche wants to sign off on the $1.776 billion — rounding off the $1.8 billion — slush fund partly for the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and the January 6th pardons. But the president doesn’t want him to. Republicans are at odds with their own leader. What does this mean, legally? How do we move forward as a nation?
Two conflicting statutes come into play, and they’ll define what happens here. First, there’s the Federal Vacancies Reform Act — which says that when the Senate rejects a nominee, an acting official can continue for a finite amount of time. But then there’s another statute, which DOJ says lets Blanche finish out the Trump administration: the Department of Justice succession statute. No court has ever resolved the conflict between these two statutes.
Here’s what I think happens: if Trump refuses to bend — and I don’t think he will on this slush fund — Todd Blanche stays in office. But here’s the problem, April: if Trump renominates him after Cornyn and Tillis are gone, it may not even be a Republican Senate anymore.
That part!
Time will run out, and then you’ll have a legal test — and that’s where our Contrarian-funded litigators get ready to sue. Can we throw Todd Blanche out of office, the way we’ve done in over 300 legal cases and matters — some of the biggest wins that got the New York Times to say those nice things about Democracy Defenders and me?
Stay tuned, friends. April and I will keep you posted. Once again, Donald Trump has run headlong into the rule of law. And you know the song, April: “I fought the law, and the law won.” That’s our theme song — we’ve beaten him so many times. We’re ready to litigate the Blanche issue if necessary.
And, as you said, there are two unresolved issues around this acting situation — so I can see where you and other lawyers step in and challenge it. Contrarians, this might be another Supreme Court case. Who knows?
If necessary.
If necessary! Norm Eisen, thank you for breaking this down, as always — and thank you for being the “Attorney General of the Resistance,” according to the New York Times. I’ll embrace that title too. Thank you, Norm.
Thanks, April.
“The Tea” appears every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30 p.m., right here on The Contrarian.