Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) unloaded on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Tuesday morning as senators geared up to vote on the Trump official’s nomination in a Senate committee, singling out his past refusal to admit what Durbin argued was an obvious truth.
At a prior Senate hearing, Blanche refused to admit that the sum of the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” – a taxpayer-funded settlement designed to award payouts to Jan. 6 rioters – was selected to invoke a comparison between Jan. 6 rioters and American revolutionaries.
The Senate Judiciary Committee met Tuesday to vote on advancing Blanche’s nomination to fill his role permanently, and a frustrated Durbin lashed out at Blanche for his previous testimony before the committee.
“When asked how the [Justice Department] justified the slush fund's outrageous $1.776 billion price tag, Mr. Blanche refused to answer,” Durbin said.
“He shows contempt for this committee and for our history when refusing to admit that the sum was chosen to signal support for the Jan. 6 rioters when they attacked and invaded the Capitol. Those rioters shamelessly invoked 1776 to compare themselves to American revolutionaries... give me a break!”