| Todd Blanche’s nomination to serve as Attorney General appears
to be on track for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee late next week and,
if he clears that hurdle, a vote in the full Senate during the week of August 3.
At this point, one principal obstacle in the committee remains: ending the administration’s
so-called “anti-weaponization fund.” |
| This is, of course, a problem of Blanche’s — and the administration's — own making. The fund was a terrible
idea, Americans oppose it by a 2:1 margin,
and Blanche publicly passed on at least two opportunities last month to
put the issue to bed — when he was asked in the House Appropriations Committee to
confirm in writing that the fund was dead (he refused),
and when a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia ordered
him to confirm in writing that it was dead (he
refused). Two Republicans on the committee — Thom Tillis and John Cornyn — have
since said that they need to be satisfied that the fund is not moving forward
before they vote for Blanche. |
| There has been a solution to this problem all along:
Congress should pass a law. That law doesn’t require Blanche’s acquiescence or
the DOJ’s sign-off, and if Trump were to veto it, he would simply be making
clear that the administration will, in fact, try to make the same payouts
through other mechanisms. |
| Last week, when Cornyn pressed Blanche on this issue during
his confirmation hearing, Blanche was effectively forced to
concede that a law that would permanently bar the fund is
unobjectionable. It’s “certainly something that could be done,” he said, and “we
very much are okay with that.” In response to follow-up questions from the
committee’s members this week, Blanche reaffirmed
this position. |
| At the moment, however, there does not appear to be any bill
text in circulation or any serious consideration being given to the idea beyond
talking about it. Meanwhile, in Blanche’s response to the committee’s
questions, he inadvertently underscored why the Senate cannot simply take his
word that the fund is “dead.” |
| Asked what he would do if “the President directs you to
reverse your decision and move forward with the Fund,” Blanche responded that
it “would be inappropriate for me to comment on hypothetical communications I
may or may not have with the President” before asserting again that the fund “is
dead.” |
| Blanche’s word on this point is meaningless for two reasons.
First, as Blanche has
indicated before and at the confirmation hearing itself, he believes that he is constitutionally
obligated to follow the president’s directives. Second, Blanche is not
being nominated to serve as Attorney General for Life — he could be fired at
any moment, and an acting official or successor could change course. |
| It would not be difficult to craft legislation to kill this
ill-conceived idea for good. |
| The law could (i) permanently block the executive branch
from spending any of the funds contemplated by the “settlement
agreement”; (ii) prohibit any settlements with or payments to people charged
by the Justice Department in connection with Trump’s effort to overturn the
2020 election and the siege of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6; (iii) impose
criminal penalties on any person, either inside or outside of the government, who
attempts to circumvent those prohibitions; and (iv) include an explicit and
automatic claw-back mechanism for any payments made despite those prohibitions. |
| This isn’t rocket science. If Tillis, Cornyn, and other
Republican senators were serious on this point, they would insist that Congress
pass and Trump sign this law before voting to confirm Blanche. |
