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