A federal judge's pointed jab, with implications of legal wrongdoing, will haunt acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as he is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will decide whether to strip the “acting” from his title.
During an appearance on MS NOW on Tuesday morning to review Donald Trump’s major court loss in Florida on his IRS settlement deal, former US Attorney Barbara McQuade noted that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams went out of her way to single out Trump’s former personal attorney.
“She also notes a couple of other interesting things, Willie,” McQuade told “Morning Joe” co-host Willie Geist. “That is, she actually raised this issue while the lawsuit was pending, and two days before briefs were due to explain to her why this was a legitimate case over which court has jurisdiction, they dismissed the case and instead negotiated this out-of-court settlement. She said that was a real tell that there was never any case or controversy here in the first place.”
About the judge making referrals to state bars to investigate some of Trump’s lawyers, she told co-host Joe Scarborough, “As you know, Joe, there is a specific law that forbids lawyers from engaging in conflicts of interest. And she cites that rule when she makes these referrals.”
“I think the other thing that's important here is Todd Blanche getting quite a bit of comeuppance here, where she refers to him as ‘misleading’ at best and ‘disingenuous’ at worst, based on the testimony he gave to Congress,” she added.