Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche began meeting with Republican senators Monday as he launches a monthlong confirmation process. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) was Blanche’s first stop as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will eventually process his nomination. Grassley, in a statement Monday, was positive about Blanche’s career so far. “I appreciated the opportunity…
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Monday ahead of his confirmation hearing for attorney general this summer. Blanche has been occupying the spot since former Attorney General Pam Bondi resigned earlier this year and was just recently nominated by President Donald Trump. He faces a tough confirmation battle, with […]
Georgetown Law professor and former senior Department of Justice official Marty Lederman argued Chief Judge James Boasberg has sufficient evidence to order a criminal contempt trial against Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche without further investigation. "The evidence the judge has already elicited is more than sufficient," Lederman wrote.The case stems from March 2025, when Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the deportation of Venezuelan detainees to El Salvador's Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo prison. Despite the order, two deportation flights proceeded mid-hearing. Blanche and then-Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove advised then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that the written court order contradicted the judge's oral ruling; yet, Civil Division lawyers argued the case remained uninformed. An appeals court panel halted Boasberg's contempt investigation in April via writ of mandamus. Lederman characterized Blanche and Bove's legal advice as an egregious rule-of-law violation warranting criminal contempt charges. Trump nominated Blanche for permanent attorney general, with Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune calling confirmation chances uncertain.The Senate has not scheduled a confirmation hearing.Watch the video below. Your browser does not support the video tag.
President Donald Trump has touted the framework to end his war with Iran as a great deal for the American people, and he and his officials have insisted Iran won't "get a dime" until they follow through on their obligations. But new reporting suggests Iran has already received money under the table.According to a report from Israel Hayom, a month ago, the Trump administration secretly approved a deal where Qatar transferred cash to Iran in exchange for a promise of safe passage for Qatari ships through the Strait of Hormuz.This clandestine deal "dovetailed with Doha's interest in opening a direct channel of communication with Tehran, which began to tighten after the ceasefire. Qatar, fearing a renewed Iranian attack on its facilities after one of its gas installations was attacked during the war, sought to buy security quiet," said the report. It also came as the U.S. was desperate to get traffic moving through the Strait, as the shutdown of the critical shipping artery has disrupted world oil exports.The reporting instantly provoked an explosive reaction from social media commenters."CORRUPT," wrote former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a former lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard."Bloody hell — US colluded with Qatar and Iran to undermine its own blockade. This is nuts," wrote Dr. Nafeez Ahmed, a British reporter with the Byline Times."I believe it. The lies and spin have been since day one," wrote podcaster Peter Grandich. "But as long as the stock market remains up and family and friends make billions, to heck with the long-term implications."
President Donald Trump says he’s made a solid peace deal with Iran—but isn’t there someone he forgot to ask?Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking to schedule an immediate meeting with Trump, likely back in Washington, a person familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal Monday. There is just no way that Netanyahu is thrilled about Trump’s plan to stop bombing Iran, something the Israeli leader has been dreaming about for decades. It was Netanyahu who pulled the United States into this “joint” conflict, selling the narrative that Iran was building nuclear weapons—even when U.S. intelligence confirmed there was no imminent threat. In the early days of the war, Secretary Marco Rubio admitted that the U.S. went to war because the administration “knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces.”If Trump ends the war now, Netanyahu won’t walk away with anything. It’s unclear what the exact terms of the peace deal are—or whether any firm commitments have been made at all—but the U.S. has failed to satisfy Israeli objectives to execute regime change, undermine regional militias, or significantly upend Iranian missile production. It’s also not clear what this deal will mean for Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon. On a phone call Monday, U.S. senior officials made clear that an Israeli withdrawal was not a condition of the deal, and that if Iran was not able to control Hezbollah, then Israel would have the right to respond. Israeli officials were quick to condemn Trump’s deal with Iran, The Washington Post reported earlier Monday. Itamar Ben Gvir, Netanyahu’s national security minister and an influential far-right leader, slammed the deal on social media. “Trump’s agreement does not bind us. Israel is not subject to the United States, and we are an independent and sovereign country,” he wrote on X. Of course, Israel’s and the United States’ military efforts are thoroughly linked. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right member of Netanyahu’s coalition, said that Trump’s agreement was “bad for Israel and the entire free world. Period.”
Todd Blanche refused to say Monday whether President Donald Trump's Justice Department is investigating Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom — hours after Newsom went public with the probe.The moment came during a photo op ahead of Blanche's confirmation meeting with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. When reporters pressed Blanche on the Newsom investigation, Grassley cut them off."This is not a news conference," the Iowa Republican said.Newsom announced earlier Monday that he and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, are under investigation by the Department of Justice. He called it a political hit job ordered by Trump."They have not found a crime," Gov. Newsom wrote on X. "They are simply trying to find one."Gov. Newsom said he believes he's being targeted because he is considering a 2028 presidential run — and has spent years as one of Trump's most vocal Democratic critics.Blanche has served as acting attorney general since Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 2. He was Trump's personal criminal defense attorney before taking over the Justice Department — a fact Democrats have repeatedly raised as a conflict of interest.Blanche was formally nominated on June 8 and faces a contested confirmation, with several Republican senators still uncommitted.
The Democrats promised to focus on affordability in November-for two days.
A federal judge already has enough evidence to order a criminal contempt trial of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — and needs no further investigation to do it.That's the conclusion of Marty Lederman, a Georgetown Law professor and former senior Justice Department official, writing Monday for Just Security.Chief Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has all he needs to act — if a federal appeals court lets him."The evidence the judge has already elicited is more than sufficient…" Lederman wrote.The case goes back to March 2025. Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order — a court order blocking further action while a case is heard — prohibiting the deportation of Venezuelan detainees to El Salvador's Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo prison. Two deportation flights took off anyway, mid-hearing.Senior Department of Justice officials, including Blanche and then-Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, had separately advised then-Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem she could proceed — telling her the written court order didn't mean what the judge's oral ruling had said minutes earlier. The Civil Division lawyers actually arguing the case were kept in the dark.Boasberg launched a contempt investigation. A divided appeals court panel shut it down in April, issuing a writ of mandamus — a legal order forcing a lower court to act — that halted the probe. That ruling is now before the full appeals court on a petition for rehearing.Lederman argued the panel got it wrong, and that Blanche and Bove's legal advice to Noem amounted to an "egregious" violation of the rule of law."The evidence demonstrating those facts would also be sufficient to support a notice of criminal contempt to Blanche and Bove," he wrote — a formal charge that would initiate a trial.The stakes extend beyond the courtroom. President Donald Trump nominated Blanche to permanently lead the Justice Department, setting up what is expected to be a heated confirmation battle. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said it is "hard to say" whether Blanche can win confirmation.The Senate has yet to schedule a confirmation hearing.
President Trump on Monday arrived at G7 in France for the annual summit as the US and Iran inked a peace agreement. The post Trump Trashes Obama on the World Stage at G7 in Meeting with Macron (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.