Washington Examiner

Blanche meets with Grassley as he looks to secure attorney general confirmation

2 hours agoCenter Right

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 […]

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Judge has ample evidence to order a contempt trial for Todd Blanche: legal expert

Raw Story

4 hours ago

Judge has ample evidence to order a contempt trial for Todd Blanche: legal expert

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.

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Key Republican Expresses Optimism on Trump Attorney General Pick

Bloomberg Politics

4 hours ago

Key Republican Expresses Optimism on Trump Attorney General Pick

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Todd Blanche to lead the US Justice Department was met with cautious optimism by a key Republican senator who has repeatedly split with the administration on other issues.

Center

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Blanche begins confirmation process by meeting GOP Sen. Grassley

The Hill News

4 hours ago

Blanche begins confirmation process by meeting GOP Sen. Grassley

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…

Center

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Trump's 'nutty' Iran moves have made the U.S. look weak and emboldened foes: ex-senator

Raw Story

5 hours ago

Trump's 'nutty' Iran moves have made the U.S. look weak and emboldened foes: ex-senator

Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) had nothing but contempt for the new reports of President Donald Trump's memorandum of understanding to end the Iran war he started — noting on MS NOW's "Deadline: White House" Monday that he is leaving the United States and its allies in a considerably worse position than they were before, and even Republicans aren't rushing to celebrate it."So we're not even going to have a conversation about the nuclear program until we've removed all of our leverage points," noted anchor Nicolle Wallace. "What, if anything, is America getting?""Not much," said McCaskill bluntly.First of all, she noted, "the only thing that Donald Trump has done here is kind of solve a problem he caused," since he was the one who escalated hostilities against Iran in the first place, and "now they're trying to pretend that he's putting out a fire that he didn't start."Additionally, McCaskill continued, even Trump loyalists like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) are reserving judgment for the time being. "The fact that Lindsey is expressing doubts tells you all you need to know about how, really, well, I was going to use a bad word here. This deal is it's really bad. It's not a deal."The biggest insult of all, she continued, is to the military."At one point in time, we had military leadership that was strong enough to advise presidents in a meaningful way," said McCaskill. "We were seen as almost invincible in the world because of the strength of our military and its leadership. This administration is ruining the credibility of our military around the world. They are making us less safe by what they have done, because now there's a whole lot of folks out there that go, wait a minute, they can't manage a military the size of Iran?""No wonder Xi and Putin are high-fiving," McCaskill lamented, adding that these two rival leaders "can't believe" Trump sidetracked American power so badly at moments when they have their own ambitions. "This is nutty foreign policy. It makes us weak. It makes it dangerous for America. And it does permanent damage to our standing in the world and the standing of our military." - YouTube youtu.be

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Live explosive prompts evacuations at Department of Homeland Security office

Raw Story

7 hours ago

Live explosive prompts evacuations at Department of Homeland Security office

A law enforcement K-9 sniffed out a live explosive device inside a package at a Cleveland Homeland Security office complex.Seven buildings at 925 Keynote Circle in Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, were evacuated Monday after the dog alerted investigators to a box containing the explosive, according to sources who spoke with the Fox 8 I-Team. No injuries were reported.The building houses a Department of Homeland Security office among its tenants. Brooklyn Heights Fire Chief Mike Lasky told Fox 8 the package was discovered during a routine inspection.The finding comes as DHS has documented a dramatic spike in violence against its personnel. The agency reported a 1,347% increase in assaults against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers during the first year of the Trump administration, along with an 8,000% increase in death threats.That tension has turned deadly in the other direction, too. ICE agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens — Renee Good, 37, on Jan. 7, during an enforcement operation, and Alex Pretti, 37, on Jan. 24, during a protest against ICE raids — in Minneapolis, according to NBC News. Videos and witness accounts raised questions about the administration's accounts of both shootings.No suspect has been named in the Cleveland incident.The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are leading the investigation.

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Netanyahu Furiously Scrambles to Meet With Trump Over Iran Deal

The New Republic

8 hours ago

Netanyahu Furiously Scrambles to Meet With Trump Over Iran Deal

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.”

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Chuck Grassley scolds reporters as Todd Blanche dodges questions on Gavin Newsom probe

Raw Story

9 hours ago

Chuck Grassley scolds reporters as Todd Blanche dodges questions on Gavin Newsom probe

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.

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Judge poised to order criminal trial of Todd Blanche: 'More than sufficient' evidence

Raw Story

10 hours ago

Judge poised to order criminal trial of Todd Blanche: 'More than sufficient' evidence

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.

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