A pair of veteran prosecutors sounded the alarm as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seems to be "getting away with it."
During a Wednesday episode of Civil Discourse, former federal prosecutors Joyce Vance and Harry Litman weighed in on the first day of Blanche's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but were disappointed by the questions from senators so far.
"Todd Blanche is getting away with it," Vance said. "He has not had any significant trouble. Some of the questions have been good... but nothing seems to be touching Blanche. His demeanor continues to be abrasive."
The questions that Vance liked came from Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), "who I just heard was excellent," Vance said. She also noted that "some clips" will be played, like Blanche's slip-up when he said he's Trump's lawyer, "and then he corrects himself and he says, 'I was his lawyer,'" Vance said.
"That was a telling moment," Vance said, but her impression is that Blanche seems to be coming away from most of the questioning fine.
"He's assertive, and there's a little bit of quiet outrage," Vance said.
Litman said, "You can sort of turn the volume off to see how it's going."
Hirono is the only one who "had a little bit of energy and fervor and sense that this was important. All in all, maybe it's just how senators act," Litman said.
"There doesn't feel to be anything near the kind of gravity that you and I, and commentators on the Department of Justice have been really emphasizing based on completely unprecedented conduct on his part. So it feels like the proceedings are not really up to the moment," Litman said.
"Todd Blanche has corrupted the Justice Department," Vance agreed. "He is unfit to serve as the Attorney General, and when he's confronted with that, the best he can do is say, 'Well, the president can do whatever he wants when it comes to pardons.'"