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Todd Blanche’s rocky road: From the Politics Desk

2 hours agoCenter Left

In today’s edition, we dig into the uncertain paths forward for Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination and the Iran war.

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Senate committee postpones vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination over disagreements with GOP senators

NBC News Politics

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Senate committee postpones vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination over disagreements with GOP senators

Two Republicans on the Judiciary Committee said they have not received the assurances they’re seeking from the Justice Department regarding the Trump-IRS settlement.

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'Oh my God!' Todd Blanche's 'slippery' escape from near-certain rebuke stuns onlookers

Raw Story

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'Oh my God!' Todd Blanche's 'slippery' escape from near-certain rebuke stuns onlookers

The delayed vote to advance the confirmation of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is drawing sharp online reactions.On Wednesday, reporters revealed that the Senate Judiciary Committee planned to delay the markup and vote on Blanche's nomination to be President Donald Trump's attorney general, with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the committee chair, saying he's working to help shore up votes to advance the nomination.Online, reactions ranged from surprise to condemnation of the move by the Republican-led committee. Blanche's confirmation had been complicated by his handling of the Epstein files as deputy attorney general and his refusal to put in writing that Trump's anti-weaponization fund is dead."Republicans just took down the Blanche vote for tomorrow," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) reacted on Bluesky. "Shows how truthful Blanche was about the slush fund deal being dead, that he couldn't even convince Republicans. He's a slippery weasel, and that was a slippery deal.""Simply have to lmao," wrote Max Steele, the senior director of communications for the gun-control advocacy group Everytown.Capitol Hill reporter Scott MacFarlane shared a quote from Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), saying, "Republicans were forced to postpone Todd Blanche's confirmation vote because they knew he was too corrupt and untrustworthy to get enough votes."Garcia's quote continued, "Blanche went from being Trump's personal lawyer to running the Epstein files cover-up and orchestrating billion-dollar slush funds."Eric Michael Garcia, the Washington bureau chief at The Independent and MS NOW columnist, reacted on Bluesky by simply writing, "Oh my god!""What's really stunning here is that they went ahead with hearings when they didn't have the votes," noted Noah Berlatsky, a writer for the legal and political Substack Public Notice. "Everybody desperately tries to avoid this happening usually. If they don't have the votes, they don't hold hearings.""Republicans just took down the Blanche vote for tomorrow. Shows how truthful Blanche was about the slush fund deal being dead, that he couldn’t even convince Republicans. He’s a slippery weasel, and that was a slippery deal," Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) posted on Bluesky.

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Senate panel delays critical vote to advance Blanche attorney general nomination

Washington Examiner

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Senate panel delays critical vote to advance Blanche attorney general nomination

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation process to permanently remain in the position was set back on Wednesday when a key Senate committee postponed a key vote advancing his nomination. A spokesperson for the Senate judiciary committee, which is led by Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA), suggested Wednesday’s vote was pushed back because Blanche lacks the […]

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Republicans postpone Todd Blanche committee vote as questions swirl

Raw Story

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Republicans postpone Todd Blanche committee vote as questions swirl

The Senate Judiciary Committee is delaying the vote to advance Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, according to breaking news.Andrew Desiderio, the senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News, shared the news on a post on X alongside a copy of a Senate Judiciary Committee agenda with Blanche's nomination on it. The copy also had the red letters "POSTPONED" across the top.The committee was initially scheduled to vote on Blanche's confirmation on Thursday, which is a key procedural hurdle the acting attorney general needs to cross before he is confirmed. The news comes after speculation swirls about whether Blanche will secure the job as President Donald Trump's attorney general, with some GOP senators leaving it uncertain how they'll vote. Blanche can't afford to lose even one GOP vote on the Judiciary Committee if every Democrat votes against him.Fox News chief congressional correspondent Chad Pergram wrote in a post on X that a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Judiciary Committee chair, said, "Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump's nominees up for success in committee, not failure." The statement from Grassley's office mentioned Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who left it unclear whether they'll vote to advance Blanche."Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement," according to the statement shared by Pergram. "Tomorrow’s markup is postponed as work continues to secure sufficient support in committee to favorably report Attorney General-nominee Todd Blanche, who is highly qualified for the job."

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Judiciary Committee cancels vote on Blanche AG nomination amid GOP opposition

The Hill News

3 hours ago

Judiciary Committee cancels vote on Blanche AG nomination amid GOP opposition

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) late Wednesday evening canceled a scheduled meeting to consider the nomination of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to lead the Justice Department amid opposition from some GOP senators on the panel. “Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure. Senators Cornyn…

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Hammer drop exposes Todd Blanche to judge hours before confirmation vote

Raw Story

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Hammer drop exposes Todd Blanche to judge hours before confirmation vote

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's own admissions about FBI negligence in the Epstein case landed in federal court today, hours before his Senate confirmation vote.Survivors' attorneys filed the letter Wednesday before Judge Ryon McCabe in the Southern District of Florida in the case Doe 1 et al. v. United States. The filing suggests the survivors believe Blanche admitted wrongdoing by the FBI in a rush to deflect responsibility for failures in the Epstein case.The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Blanche's confirmation Thursday morning.The letter cites Blanche's statements at a July 16 meeting with survivors at Justice Department headquarters as grounds to amend the complaint. Plaintiffs said they were "seeking this relief in light of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's very recent statements to survivors."During that meeting, ABC News reported, survivors described Blanche's conduct as "dissatisfactory and contrived" when he dismissed survivor Maria Farmer, telling her that her "call [to the FBI about EpsteinI] was made in 1996," "the case was handled improperly before 2007" and "you got screwed over by the FBI but I cannot fix the FBI's lack of investigation."Those admissions, the filing shows, now sit in a federal court record the day before senators decide Blanche's fate.The underlying lawsuit, filed in September 2024, represents 33 women suing the U.S. government under the Federal Tort Claims Act — a law that allows citizens to sue the federal government for negligence — for the FBI's failures in the Epstein case. They are seeking more than $100 million.The complaint alleges the FBI received its first credible tip in 1996, when Maria Farmer reported that Epstein and Maxwell had sexually abused her and her sister. The FBI did nothing.It also alleges the FBI ignored child sexual abuse material seized in a 2005 raid of Epstein's Palm Beach mansion, failed to interview victims whose names and phone numbers it already had, and allowed Epstein to judge a beauty pageant in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2007 while under active investigation.Epstein survivor Annie Farmer, who testified at Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal trial, said she left the meeting convinced senators should vote against Blanche, ABC News reported. She called him "abrasive, condescending, and intentionally noncommittal to survivors."Annie Farmer said his evasiveness felt like "a deliberate attempt to claim the Attorney General's office is powerless in this matter.""The FBI has the power to open investigations, not me," Blanche told those assembled inside the meeting, MS NOW reported. "I'm just the attorney general," he added.The meeting only happened because Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), whose vote Blanche needs to clear the Judiciary Committee, demanded it as a condition of his support, ABC News reported. As of Wednesday afternoon, Tillis had still not committed to voting for Blanche's confirmation.That vote is scheduled for Thursday morning.

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Gretchen Carlson names who's really calling the shots as Blanche confirmation in jeopardy

Raw Story

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Gretchen Carlson names who's really calling the shots as Blanche confirmation in jeopardy

Former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson called out the shot caller keeping Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche from killing the anti-weaponization fund.Blanche is courting the Senate Judiciary Committee to secure the role of President Donald Trump's attorney general, but he has stopped short of making key concessions that would help make him a shoo-in.Carlson noted that Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told Blanche to meet with Epstein survivors to secure his vote, and Blanche responded by holding that meeting shortly after. However, Carlson said, "he apparently wasn't even nice in the particular meeting that he was basically told to have," as Epstein survivors reported that Blanche told them to "get to the point."However, Blanche hasn't been so quick to give in to demands by Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX). Cornyn asked Blanche to put into writing his vow that Trump's anti-weaponization fund is dead. Blanche refused, despite previously saying that the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund, which critics worry will be used as a slush fund by Trump's allies and January 6 rioters, is dead."What's really interesting is the slush fund must be more important," in Trump's mind, Carlson said. "Because this is what he is saying that he will not sign off on it tonight. It has to be coming from Trump, right?"CNN anchor Erin Burnett agreed, saying, "That's the person who ultimately controls this."Carlson was disturbed, though, that others would even be willing to vote to confirm Blanche. "Why is everyone else who's going to give a yes vote okay with how the Epstein files were handled?" she asked, as Blanche handled their release as deputy AG.

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GOP senator knocks Trump's 'convenient excuse' as Blanche battle reaches tipping point

Raw Story

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GOP senator knocks Trump's 'convenient excuse' as Blanche battle reaches tipping point

An outgoing Republican senior senator brushed aside a dig by President Donald Trump as a "convenient excuse" for recent frustrations.On Wednesday, reporters swarmed Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) as they sought any hint of how he would vote on the confirmation of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Cornyn has remained silent on whether he'll vote to confirm Blanche, who can't afford to lose even one Republican vote if every Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee votes against his confirmation.One reporter told Cornyn, "President Trump noted that he didn't endorse you," referring to the fact that Cornyn lost his bid for reelection in May to the Trump-endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton."He's kind of openly speculating whether or not that might have something to do with this," the reporter continued. Cornyn, however, shut down the idea that he's leaving Blanche's future uncertain as a way to get back at Trump's role in his primary."Think that's a convenient excuse for not cooperating with the judiciary committee," Cornyn said. Blanche has come under criticism for his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, including for refusing to say that he'll put in writing his vow that the anti-weaponization fund, which critics feared would benefit Trump allies, is dead.Blanche's path narrowed sharply after Sen. Lindsey Graham's death left Judiciary Committee Republicans with just one vote to lose. Cornyn isn't the only question mark, though. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) has said he won't support Blanche unless he agrees to meet personally with women abused by Jeffrey Epstein.

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Todd Blanche’s rocky road: From the Politics Desk

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Todd Blanche’s rocky road: From the Politics Desk

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