Showing posts with label dept of just us. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dept of just us. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Todd Blanche has fans. Just don’t ask who they are.

 

Todd Blanche has fans. Just don’t ask who they are.

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/7/15/800070004/news/todd-blanche-has-fans-just-dont-ask-who-they-are/ 

Todd Blanche has fans. Just don’t ask who they are.

by Lisa Needham
Staff
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI director Kash Patel attend a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, July 1, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel attend a news conference at the Justice Department on July 1.AP

We all know that everybody hates Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s favorite lawyer stooge and attorney general pick.

Like, really, really hates. And they’re not shy about saying so.

In fact, 101 former state and federal judges signed a bar complaint against him, and 1,200 Justice Department alumni sent a letter asking the Senate not to confirm him.

Former President Donald Trump, left, standing with defense attorney Todd Blanche, speaks at the conclusion of proceedings for the day at his trial at Manhattan criminal court, May 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, Pool, File)
President Donald Trump walks beside Todd Blanche in 2024, when Blanche worked as Trump’s personal attorney.AP

But wait! Aren’t there people who love, love, love Blanch? Sure, but they seem to want to keep it on the down low, which isn’t really a sign of full-throated endorsement, is it?

So you should take The Federalist’s recent piece with a grain of salt, as it claims that 77 former DOJ officials sent a letter urging the Senate to confirm Blanche—with no link to the alleged letter. Apparently, it goes to another school … in Canada.

So unlike the 1,200 who put their name on the letter urging the Senate to toss Todd, these 77 people who apparently love him aren’t actually bold enough to say so.

Instead, The Federalist names just four people: Gary Barnett, former acting chief of staff and senior counselor to the attorney general; Ketan Bhirud, former associate deputy attorney general; Rachel Bissex, former deputy chief of staff and counselor to the attorney general; and Jonathan D. Brightbill, former acting assistant attorney general.

Gosh, such recognizable and important names! Seriously, who are these people? 

Well, it was probably easy to get both Barnett and Brightbill on board since they already signed a letter urging senators to support a different sleazy Trump lawyer who ascended to the DOJ, Emil Bove, when Trump tapped him for a lifetime seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. 

And Bissex was a “White House liaison” during the first Trump administration, so there’s no doubt that she is also very ethical and impartial.

Fox News is also hyping Blanche, saying that he “racks up massive support.”

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) speaks at an event for Republican presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) at the Ramada Hotel in Urbandale, IA, January 30, 2016. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein - RTX24QWH
GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of IowaREUTERS

Per Fox, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa provided information on everyone who wants the most corrupt lawyer imaginable to be attorney general. But like The Federalist piece, it doesn’t appear to provide any links, and there are no details about it on Grassley’s official news feed. 

But, gosh, how could you argue with the massive support of “670,000 sworn officers, 300 angel families, families who lost a loved one to crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and 100 bipartisan U.S. attorneys and DOJ officials”?

Still no names—just spokespeople for various organizations, like one that pretends that illegal immigrants are murdering everyone. 

There’s also one from the National Fraternal Order of Police, which boasts more than 300,000 members. But most law enforcement officers are employed at the state and local level, so this is just boasting that a bunch of cops like Blanche. 

Then there’s a “group of 78 former DOJ officials,” none of whom are actually named. 

Look, I get it. I wouldn’t want my name on something supporting Blanche either.

A cartoon by Jack Ohman depicting a billboard of Todd Blanche sucking up to President Donald Trump.
Jack Ohman/Tribune Content Agency

The “massive support” for Blanche is basically about what a great crimefighter he is and how he imprisons imaginary gang members or whatever, but it completely skips over how he’s behaved in the most unethical manner possible, been called out by courts, deliberately blocked the release of the Epstein files, and turned the DOJ into Trump’s personal law firm.

To be perfectly fair to the tens of people rushing the barricades to defend the honor of Todd Blanche, none of those things are bugs; they’re features.

So on the one hand, we have secret support from people ashamed to make their names public, and on the other, we have public, repeated, full-throated denunciations of Blanche—complete with everyone’s government names. 

It’s pretty clear what should be given more weight, but that would require Judiciary Committee Republicans to do their jobs—and that’s something they haven’t really been keen on doing, instead just rubber-stamping the very worst Trump appointees. 

We’ll have to wait and see if that includes Blanche. 

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  1. Comment by richthetraveler.

    Before my morning coffee, I misread the headline, thinking it said "Todd Blanche has only fans". Almost vomited before reading it again.

  2. Comment by Real Rick.

    Is Blanche even his real name? The verb “blanch” means “to whiten”, which describes what the Felon and MAGA want to do to our country.

    /snark, but only partly

  3. Comment by Gvblackmoon.

    Love how the judge in the slush fund case basically told him to drop his balls on the bar and is now holding her hammer over them. He can't talk about the slush fund at all without being honest about it because she is just waiting to slam that hammer down.

  4. Comment by Stwriley.

    Here's the problem...this won't get rid of Blanche, at least not anytime soon. He stays as Acting AG for as long as the confirmation process lasts, which could be quite a while if Senate leadership slow-walks it because they don't have the votes for confirmation and don't want to defy Trump. Then, even if they reject him in the end, Trump can reappoint him as Acting AG for another 210 days and renominate him. We'll almost certainly have Blanche as Acting AG right through the November elections, which is the very thing we'd all like to avoid.

  5. Comment by kamachanda.

    I wonder what percentage of Blanche supporters are internet bots.

  6. Comment by gratuitous.

    First question at his committee hearing should be "Who won the 2020 presidential election, Joe Biden or Donald Trump?" No fudging answer like "Joe Biden was sworn in as president in 2021" or some other nonsense. The only acceptable answer from Blanche must be one of those two names.

  7. Comment by BenderRodriguez.

    What, you're unaware of the Blanchies? Never heard of Blanchie Nation?

    Do your homework.

  8. Comment by noofsh.

    Toadie Blanche

  9. Comment by Milwrob.

    I don't care if he has fans, defeat him ~ send him back to Orange Caligula as the impotent, a$$ kisser that he is! He protects rapists and pedophiles and in doing so is complicit in their crimes. Soon we may have an AG who will follow the law and arrest those who have broken it. Looking forward to seeing Blanche's name on an arrest warrant!

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Thursday, June 11, 2026

Trump Told Prosecutors to Target ICE Protesters. A Chicago Jury Wasn’t Buying It.

Trump Told Prosecutors to Target ICE Protesters. A Chicago Jury Wasn’t Buying It.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/06/a-chicago-grand-jury-wasnt-buying-the-case-against-ice-protesters/ 

23 hours ago

Trump Told Prosecutors to Target ICE Protesters. A Chicago Jury Wasn’t Buying It.

The Broadview Six case is “a crock of shit,” one juror said.

Congressional candidate Katherine "Kat" Abughazaleh, right, and her deputy campaign manager Andre Martin, far left, leave with their attorneys and supporters from Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago on Jan. 28, 2026, after a hearing for charges of conspiracy during a protest outside the Broadview ICE facility in September. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

Congressional candidate Katherine "Kat" Abughazaleh, right, and her deputy campaign manager Andre Martin, far left, leave with their attorneys and supporters from Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago on Jan. 28, 2026.

Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily.

The grand jury transcripts from the “Broadview Six” case, in which the federal government tried to charge six Chicagoans with felony conspiracy for their participation in an anti-ICE protest, were released this week, offering a rare look inside an aggressive federal prosecution. 

The Broadview case collapsed in late May amid prosecutorial-misconduct allegations, a month after the harshest charges against the protesters were dropped. The transcripts show unnamed jurors repeatedly pressing prosecutor Sherri Mecklenburg on why defendants faced assault and conspiracy charges when the ICE agent whose vehicle they blocked was unharmed.

“This person wasn’t harmed, but by extension impeding and assaulting his vehicle, that constitutes simple assault?” one juror asked. “The law doesn’t require that you actually touch him,” Mecklenburg said. 

The juror then asked whether the ICE agent had the right to drive into the protesters. “So if the person comes and stands in front of my car, do I have the right to drive against him?” the juror asked. Mecklenburg brushed it off. “That didn’t happen.”

“It happened,” the juror responded. “He moved.” In video from the protest, the ICE agent’s car can, indeed, be seen driving towards the crowd of protesters. 

In another interaction, Mecklenburg explained the requirements of a charge of “conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer,” which the Trump administration has repeatedly brought against ICE protesters. 

“Are you actually presenting any new actual facts or just a different viewpoint on your side?” an unnamed grand juror asked.

“Okay. I’m feeling the skepticism already. Are you going to be able to listen with an open mind? Tell me the truth,” Mecklenburg said.

“I heard this case like last week, and I thought it was a crock of shit then and I still think it is,” the juror said. Prosecutors required multiple attempts across three separate days to secure an indictment—and a visit from Chicago’s U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, who gave a speech to the grand jury on the importance of impartiality, according to a special report released by his office. 

The Broadview case is part of a larger federal effort to silence dissent. Last September, Donald Trump explicitly directed federal prosecutors to target ICE protesters, telling US attorneys’ offices to “charge all such persons with the highest provable offense available under the law.” Some prosecutors resigned rather than comply. Others followed orders: in Chicago, in Los Angeles, and in Washington State, prosecutors came for ICE protesters. 

“The right does have a bloodlust to imprison dissenters,” Kat Abughazaleh, a former congressional candidate and Mother Jones contributor, said in an interview May 27. “I and a bunch of other people got hit by a car while exercising our First Amendment rights, and then the federal government tried to charge us with conspiracy.” 

The conspiracy charges could have put the six defendants, who are all involved in local Democratic politics, in jail for the better part of a decade, all for standing in the way of one ICE vehicle. “The conspiracy charge got dropped about a month ago when we asked to see the unredacted grand jury transcripts,” Abughazaleh said. 

“The government was embarrassed, just as they were embarrassed that ICE shot Joselyn Walsh, my co-defendant’s, guitar. And they should be embarrassed. This is absolutely pathetic behavior from supposedly the strongest government in the world.” 

In Spokane, Washington, three people were found guilty last month of the same charge the Broadview protesters were charged with: “conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer.” Cases against ICE protesters in Texas and Minnesota are ongoing. 

“I think the goal is to make an example out of us,” Abughazaleh said. 

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