"Doing the president's political bidding"

Newly anointed Attorney General Todd Blanche has been busy. But instead of doing justice, he’s been doing the president’s political bidding. A violation of the Hatch Act, if anyone believes the Attorney General should follow the law. One of the Act’s major prohibitions is against using a federal job to influence an election. Although federal employees can, technically, campaign on their own time, the Attorney General is on the clock 24/7. Presidentially appointed, Senate confirmed officials like Blanche can only participate in partisan political activity in a purely personal (not official) capacity.  

But here Blanche is, speaking at a Trump rally in New York yesterday. He endorsed Bruce Blakeman, the Republican County executive for Nassau County, New York, who is running against Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul to be New York’s next Governor. Donald Trump has also endorsed Blakeman, and he was there yesterday too.

It’s hard to see what Blanche’s endorsement adds to Trump’s or why he thought it was an appropriate thing for an Attorney General to do. When the Attorney General, the Director of the FBI (yes, he was there too), and the President of the United States are all at a campaign event, standing in front of a backdrop of law enforcement officers, talking about their government jobs, that’s hardly personal time. Blanche spoke about “his” Justice Department, saying, “In my Department of Justice, if anybody touches a federal law enforcement officer in any way inappropriate, we will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.” (If only he felt that way about Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.)

Congrats to all of the Republican Senators who voted for Blanche. He showed you who he was from the outset, and you confirmed him anyhow. Blanche has also been busy overseeing a Justice Department that continues to persecute the president's political enemies, in the best tradition of dictators everywhere. 

A report this morning said the U.S. Attorney in Chicago has been looking into a political consulting business where Judge Juan Merchan’s daughter once worked. Merchan is the Judge who oversaw the New York State hush money prosecution connected to Trump’s liaison with Stormy Daniels that resulted in Trump’s conviction on multiple felony charges. 

Trump targeted the Judge and his family throughout the trial, making unsupported allegations Merchan’s daughter benefited financially from the trial. The U.S. Attorney in Chicago, Andrew Boutrous, was also involved in the Broadview 6 debacle that resulted in his being forced to dismiss charges against anti-ICE protestors after evidence of grand jury abuse came to light. He works directly for Blanche. The reporting suggests the case against Merchan’s daughter may have come up empty-handed, but that hasn’t stopped Blanche’s DOJ from seeking indictments in the past, when the President wants revenge.

Then there’s Ka$h Patel. Not to be outdone by Todd Blanche’s infamous “I love you, sir” paean to Trump, Patel had this to say at the same rally Blanche participated in: “Thanks to President Trump’s brilliant leadership, the American dream is not a dream anymore. It is a reality. I’m living it….”

The Solicitor General, too, although he managed to avoid the rally, is in full-on worshipful mode. You would think that the so-called “10th justice,” the Senate confirmed, fourth ranking official at DOJ, wouldn’t need to kowtow to the President, but in his brief trying to get Trump a better decision from the Supreme Court on the now-disallowed construction of the White House ballroom, John Sauer quoted an unnamed White House official who thinks Trump’s boondoggle “is already being adjudged to be one of the most beautiful of its kind, anywhere in the country,” before attempting flattery with the Court, based on its architecture of all things: “its magnificent Corinthian columns—considered the highest column order in architecture—have served as the inspiration for the monumental columns that front the military/ballroom complex.” And Sauer put all of that in his brief. It must have been music to Trump’s ears.

There is no case-related reason for the Solicitor General’s Office to scrape and bow like this, any more than there is legitimate reason for Blanche and Patel to be on the campaign trail with the President. But Trump makes it explicit, expressing mock “surprise” to see Blanche, as though there isn’t a formal plan in advance around both the President and the Attorney General’s movements. And coming in for the reputational kill shot, he admonishes Blanche that he will be great “if he remains tough.” We all know what tough means. It means doing Donald Trump’s bidding in all things.

The behavior of the three top Justice Department officials, Blanche, Patel, and Sauer, confirms that they understand the rules they are operating under: Trump rules, not the rule of law. 

After Pam Bondi’s demise as Attorney General and the forced departures of Bill Cassidy, John Cornyn, and Thom Tillis from the Senate after falling out of favor with Trump, they know that if they want to keep their jobs, they must keep currying favor with the president. Shamefully, they’re willing to do that.

We will not forget. We will keep following what happens at this Justice Department, even when stories disappear from the headlines. People who have been entrusted with power must be accountable for how they use it. Without knowledge and memory, that’s not possible. 

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We’re in this together,

-Joyce Vance