All posts tagged "justice department"

'This is the end': Legal expert sounds the alarm as Todd Blanche awaits Senate vote

A legal expert delivered a stunning comment about Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and the Justice Department on Thursday.

In a Substack interview with President Donald Trump's niece Mary Trump and former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance, Vance argued that the corruption of the DOJ has hit a fever pitch.

And as Blanche awaits Senate confirmation to be the United States Attorney General, it's clear that he has sacrificed his responsibility to serve the country and instead "he's functioning as the president’s criminal defense attorney," Vance said.

"That is not the job of the Attorney General," Vance explained.

"The Attorney General represents the American people, not the president," Vance said. "Todd Blanche was once regarded very highly by many of the lawyers who worked with him in the Southern District of New York. They considered him a good lawyer and a good person. Somewhere along the way, though, he lost his way."

There has been a difference between Blanche, who was considered a "good lawyer and good person," and those who have stood up against Trump, Vance argued.

"We watched respected attorneys in the Southern District of New York lose their careers because they refused to compromise their professional ethics. Todd Blanche remained fully complicit throughout all of it," Vance said.

"That’s because Todd Blanche doesn’t believe in the rule of law. He believes in the rule of Donald Trump. He believes in the unitary executive, in an all powerful presidency," she added.

"I honestly don’t know that there are enough adjectives available to describe how dangerous this is," Vance said. "So let me say it plainly. This is the end of the Department of Justice as we’ve known it."

Red flags fly as 'very suspicious' move from Todd Blanche has confirmation in doubt

CNN analyst Andrew McCabe on Tuesday pointed out that the Department of Justice never responded to President Donald Trump's IRS lawsuit — and how that could impact Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination.

The former deputy director of the FBI told CNN anchor Kasie Hunt that, as Blanche's nomination remains in limbo ahead of Thursday's vote, further questions about Trump's former personal attorney have come to light.

"Let's remember, there essentially was never really a true lawsuit here," McCabe said. "The president sued the IRS for $10 billion. The Department of Justice never even answered the complaint. So, there were never two opposing parties. The Justice Department never stood up and defended the United States in the way that it did in every other suit brought by the same leak from the same person."

This was unusual, McCabe explained.

"And because of that oddity, that's a very suspicious decision on the part of people like Todd Blanche and others," he said. "The lack of a true controversy meant that the entire thing was about to get dismissed. Before that could happen, they entered into these agreements. One of them, of course, created the weaponization fund, and the second one essentially granted complete immunity forever to Donald Trump, his family members and businesses."

McCabe described the situation further.

"It was basically a giveaway from the Department of Justice to the president," McCabe said. "How this thing stands or was ever conceived — I have no idea. I've been around many, many settlements of criminal matters, some of which involved IRS criminal matters, and have never seen any language like this. I think it's absolutely unprecedented and an incredibly bad idea."

The IRS settlement became a sticking point for some Republican senators during Blanche's confirmation hearing. On Tuesday, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said there is no deal on Blanche's confirmation because of the settlement and the so-called anti-weaponization fund, Politico reported.

Judge who forced Trump DOJ to back down on NYT subpoenas not done with them yet: report

The Justice Department made a major retreat this week, withdrawing its controversial subpoenas against New York Times journalists intended to root out a leak.

But the federal judge who strong-armed them into backing down isn't finished with them quite yet.

According to Lawfare's Anna Bower, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian of New York issued an order on Friday demanding the DOJ turn over a number of documents pertaining to their operations.

Specifically, the judge wants all internal communications about the decision to seek a non-disclosure order — which comes just a day after he forced Justice Department counsel to admit certain claims made in that filing were inaccurate.

"With respect to the July 14, 2026 application for a non-disclosure order, the Government should, on or before Monday, July 27, 2026, furnish to the Court on an ex parte basis any internal communications on or before July 16, 2026, concerning (1) the decision to seek the non-disclosure order, (2) whether the application should or should not reference that the owners of the records were reporters, and (3) whether and when notification of the third-party subpoenas should be given to the reporters," wrote Subramanian.

The leak investigation was a reaction to New York Times reporting about potential security vulnerabilities in the new Air Force One jet gifted to President Donald Trump by the Qatari government — something Trump and federal officials had publicly been denying.

Directly interrogating reporters for the source of their information is a violation of the Justice Department's own rules about press freedom, except in narrow circumstances where all other options have been exhausted.

'Getting away with it': Todd Blanche's evasive maneuvers in hearing alarm legal experts

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.'"

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Expert reveals 'cardinal sin' Todd Blanche committed that could kneecap his confirmation

A legal expert revealed the "cardinal" Todd Blanche committed as Acting Attorney General that could kneecap his upcoming confirmation hearing.

During a Tuesday appearance on CNN, senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig spoke about Blanche's upcoming hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will vote on whether to advance his nomination for the permanent role of attorney general.

"I'm sure that much of the focus and attention tomorrow will be on the most recent and most sensational scandals around Todd Blanche," Honig said, pointing in particular to Blanche's signing of Trump's anti-weaponization fund and his handling of the Epstein files.

"But to me, the cardinal sin that Todd Blanche has committed in his year and a half as deputy AG and acting AG is that political weaponization of the DOJ's prosecutorial power," Honig said. "That is a red line that Todd Blanche has crossed time and again."

Honig explained that Blanche has crossed that red line by "overseeing and promoting and defending these bogus criminal investigations."

For Honig, examples of Blanche weaponizing the DOJ's prosecutorial power included the cases against Trump enemies like former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and senators Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin.

"To me, as a prosecutor, that is the most fundamental abuse of power one can make," Honig said. "So, he's going to have to answer for all of it."

Honig said that far outweighs the creation of the anti-weaponization fund, which critics worried would act as a slush fund for Trump's allies, and Blanche's handling of the Epstein files. He added that it's important those two cases "don't overshadow the more core violations of dereliction of duty."

DOJ subpoenas law firms that caved to Trump as 'pitched legal battle' erupts: NYT

Law firms that cut deals with Trump to stop executive orders are now fighting a secret courtroom battle, the New York Times reported.

According to the Times, the Justice Department has issued subpoenas to 13 elite law firms, including nine that struck deals with Trump early in his second term to fend off "crippling" executive orders. Four of the subpoenaed firms challenged those orders in court, the Times reported.

The nine firms that cut deals with Trump "have largely continued to generate vast profits and the White House has appeared to leave them alone," the Times wrote. Those deals included agreements to pledge nearly a billion dollars in free legal work to causes supported by Trump to head off executive orders that would have crippled these firms, according to the Times.

"In recent days, behind closed doors, the uneasy truce between the firms and the White House has erupted into a pitched legal battle," according to the Times, which reviewed one of the subpoenas. "Now, the Justice Department has taken the highly aggressive move of issuing subpoenas to the firms and is demanding that their leaders sit for depositions before Justice Department lawyers."

The White House has been trying to hide the role of Boris Epshteyn, Trump's personal lawyer, in striking the deals, but a recent lawsuit by the American Bar Association put a spotlight on the role of both Epshteyn and Trump ally Steve Bannon. The DOJ subpoenas issued to the law firms asked for communications between them and Epshteyn, according to the Times.

"The government's subpoenas marked an escalation of the battle surrounding the lawsuit and aim to put the law firms' leaders under the same kind of pressure that the bar association's subpoena put on Mr. Epshteyn," the Times reported, based on conversations with people familiar with the matter.

Disturbing pattern revealed as judge blisters Trump DOJ's 'slush fund': analyst

A judge had a blistering response Monday for President Donald Trump's Department of Justice "slush fund," which a former Florida lawmaker described as a troubling pattern, CNN reported.

Former Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell responded to the ruling from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida, who had noted that Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had signed a settlement document on behalf of both plaintiffs and defendants — highlighting that only the Trump administration's interests were represented. CNN anchor Kasie Hunt referred to it as "one of many examples of where the president has tried to use our system to benefit himself in ways that then the legal system has had to scramble to catch up to."

Mucarsel-Powell called out why the pattern was so problematic.

"I think the point here — it's not just about the IRS. It's not just about this one case. It's the pattern that we've seen here, and it's that the executive branch, the president, is trying to use the power of his office to actually negotiate deals to benefit himself," Mucarsel-Powell said.

"And one of the things that the judge says in this case, which I think is very important to keep in mind, is that the court has to be bound by the Constitution," she added. "Congress is bound by the Constitution, the same as the executive [branch]. You can't have a president abuse the power of his office to try to benefit that office for himself. The judge says that as well. So Todd Blanche is going to be facing senators who are going to be questioning whether he's working for the American people or whether he's working for one person in the executive branch, President Donald Trump. That's not the way that these agencies should function. They should be independent, working for the American people, not for the president."

'What happened?' Todd Blanche's former colleague 'disgusted' by his transformation

A former colleague of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that she's "very surprised" and "disgusted" by his "major transformation" under Trump.

During an interview on Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance, former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah described how "very upsetting" it is to see who Blanche has become in the Trump administration. She spoke with Joyce Vance, a former federal prosecutor, about her memories of Blanche ahead of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 15 to become attorney general.

In 2001, Blanche was a paralegal at the Southern District of New York who "had a very good career," Rocah remembered. She described him as a family man with kids, a "team player," and a "hard worker" who "seemed to be the person doing it all" when Rocah knew him at SDNY.

"He was great. He was going to law school at night while not only working as a paralegal but doing a really good job as a paralegal," Rocah said. "That's high praise. Like, prosecutors, you know, quickly figure out who are the people you want on your team, and he was one of them."

He became Rocah's co-chief over the White Plains division and tried to teach new prosecutors, "and be their supporter and help them learn from mistakes," Rocah said.

Now, she's "shocked" at how Blanche visited Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in prison and "behaved like a criminal defense lawyer" for her, how he's "comfortable with lying," oversaw career prosecutors marched out of offices "as if they were criminals," negotiated Trump's IRS immunity, and led cases dismissed for vindictive prosecutions.

The "old Todd Blanche" that Rocah knew "would not have met with this person" who he is now, she said.

"There are people who worked with him who are very surprised at a minimum, and many of them, really disgusted by some of the actions that have been taken," Rocah said.

"It's fascinating," Rocah continued. "It's a question people are fascinated by, including me and many of my other former colleagues, of how someone transforms from a person that I could have liked, respected, trusted into someone who is doing things like what is happening now."

Next Week, Todd Blanche Has His Confirmation Hearing. Mimi Rocah Has Some Thoughts About That. by Joyce Vance

A recording of our live video

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Red state's top election official chides Trump DOJ's latest 'love letter': 'Truly bizarre'

President Donald Trump's Department of Justice dropped a threat for election officials on Tuesday, prompting a red state's top election official to reject the demand, Democracy Docket reported.

Republican Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson called out the federal agency for its attacks on election officials in multiple states after the DOJ warned that the leaders could face criminal prosecution over potential noncitizen voting. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon sent the letters to Michigan, Nevada, and Utah, saying that these states had five days to prove how they plan to "comply with federal voter eligibility laws."

"Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution," Henderson wrote in a post on Threads.

"I’m sure I’m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts. This is truly bizarre behavior by the federal agency that is supposed to be protecting civil rights," Henderson wrote.

The letters portray standard voter roll upkeep as a possible criminal issue. The DOJ cautioned that election officials could face prosecution if they knowingly keep noncitizens on the voter rolls or permit them to receive and cast ballots.

"Any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s [Statewide Voter Registration List] or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability," Dhillon wrote.

The move was the latest in Trump's election agenda ahead of the midterms.

"The letters come as Trump and his allies continue to push restrictions aimed at alleged widespread noncitizen voting — a problem for which they have not produced evidence," according to Democracy Docket.