TODD BLANCHE VOTE DELAYED

The postponed nomination reveals Trump's declining grip of control and the perseverance of the Epstein survivors

In a stunning setback for Donald Trump and his crusade to decimate the Justice Department, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to nominate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for the permanent attorney general post has been put on hold. Whether Republican holdouts will cave — always a distinct possibility — remains to be seen. But the difficulty Trump is having reflects both his plunging approval and the dogged efforts of Jeffrey Epstein survivors to expose Blanche’s moral and professional depravity.

Frankly, any Republican with an ounce of respect for the Constitution, let alone empathy for Epstein’s survivors, should have rejected Blanche out of hand when Trump first nominated him. Blanche should have been disqualified based solely on his central role in breaking the Epstein Files Transparency Act by refusing to release all required files and failing to abide by simple privacy protections for the survivors. However, Blanche’s abject unfitness goes well beyond his Epstein malfeasance.

He granted Trump and his family patently illegal IRS immunity. He was critical to the execrable slush fund, which was allegedly intended (in part) for insurrectionists. His unethical involvement led to a scathing order issued by a federal judge in Florida, who ordered that a copy be sent to the State Bar in New York, where Blanche is licensed. He has been the advocate for the revenge prosecutions of Trump’s enemies (sham cases that continue to crumble in court) and the enabler of ICE’s reign of terror and legal persecution. And he is largely responsible for the deplorable deterioration of the department’s reputation.

Ironically, it was Trump’s greed — his refusal to allow Blanche (formerly Trump’s personal lawyer) to revoke in writing the tax immunity deal — that seems to have spelled an end to Blanche’s ambition. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), whose primary defeat Trump helped orchestrate, seems to have tried to give Blanche an easy way out by offering to confirm him if he came up with “clear written guarantees on the fund and tax deal.” Blanche (that is, Trump) refused to budge. That was enough for both Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who has discovered something resembling a spine since announcing he would retire at the end of his term, to withhold their votes. For now, the confirmation vote that was scheduled for the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday is on pause.

As the New York Times reported, the outcome is shocking, given how basic it would have been to mollify the Republican holdouts:

Mr. Cornyn repeatedly expressed astonishment that the administration did not simply comply with what he regarded as a narrow request to place limits on a deal.

That the fate of an attorney general would be jeopardized by the administration’s apparent determination to keep in place a tax deal offering a sitting president enormous financial advantages illustrated a defining characteristic of Mr. Trump’s second term: a president’s personal interest, along with public interest, is now a factor in governing.

Again, no clarification or even cancellation of the IRS tax scam would justify confirmation of someone as abjectly unfit for office as Blanche. His treatment of the Epstein survivors and willingness to violate the law to protect his boss should have disqualified him from holding any Justice Department post, let alone the attorney general of the United States.

To their credit and bravery, a group of Epstein survivors was on the Hill yesterday, fighting to the bitter end. They continued to push Republicans to do the right thing: exposing Blanche’s untruthful testimony at his hearing and his appalling condescension, rudeness, and utter refusal to follow investigative leads when he was finally compelled to have a pro forma meeting with them. Calling it a “massive, chilling effect” for all survivors, they made clear how devoid of decency and respect for the rule of law Blanche truly is.

If Cornyn’s squeamishness over the IRS tax scheme is the mechanism by which Blanche’s nomination fails, democracy advocates should breathe a sigh of relief. Should the vote be rescheduled, or worse, should Blanche be confirmed, Democrats should vow, if they recapture one or both houses of Congress, to conduct exacting oversight, explore allegations that he did not testify truthfully in his confirmation hearings, and — if warranted — pursue impeachment. In the meantime, the country owes a debt of gratitude to the Epstein survivors whose courage and tenacity, at least for now, has prevented Blanche from obtaining the AG post he covets.