Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is causing “real harm to real people” at the Justice Department he wants to run, according to former DOJ fraud chief Andrew Weissmann.
Weissmann, a law professor and longtime Trump critic who helped lead the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, told The Daily Beast Podcast host Joanna Coles that Blanche is eroding the “history and traditions” of the department ahead of his July 15 confirmation hearing.
“You could just go on and on and on about ways that he has undermined the rule of law,” Weissmann, 68, said of Blanche, 51, claiming that judges have already deemed many of the acting attorney general’s actions “illegal” as he prepares for his confirmation vote next week.
More than 1,200 former Justice Department officials have spoken out against Blanche’s nomination as attorney general, calling on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the 22-member panel responsible for overseeing the department, to reject his confirmation.
In June, over 100 judges filed an ethics complaint against Blanche with the New York State Bar, pointing to controversies including his role in pushing a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that was later scrapped after criticism, as well as his handling of the release of files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“To me, it is more upsetting that I know that he knows better,” Weissmann said of Blanche.
Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney who represented him in major criminal cases, including the New York hush money trial, has been carrying out the president’s wishes since taking over as acting attorney general after Pam Bondi’s firing in April.
His actions have drawn concern even from some of his own friends, who have questioned whether there is a “red line” he would not cross.
One of the biggest controversies surrounding Blanche has been his handling of the Epstein files, an issue that contributed to Bondi’s firing.
On Monday, federal Judge Emmet G. Sullivan rejected Blanche’s request to dismiss a lawsuit seeking the release of some names that had been redacted from government records in the Epstein files, after previously also finding that he had violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act.
“Congress has every power to say the following: You want to be confirmed, the documents are going to be turned over, consistent with the rule of law,” Weissmann said, laying out what he believes should be a condition of Blanche’s confirmation. “Turn over the documents, and if you don’t turn the documents over, don’t expect to be confirmed,” he added.
The DOJ has reportedly yet to release millions of documents tied to Epstein, a former friend of Trump. Weissmann said the ongoing delay suggests “there has to be a problem,” especially given the chaos surrounding the department’s handling of the files.
“Nobody has said to date that every single document that relates to Donald Trump that has his name on it has been produced,” Weissmann said, as the documents released so far already contain thousands of references to the president.
Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
“They cannot turn everything over because they’ve decided either the president said you can’t, or politically they can’t, or both,” the former FBI general counsel speculated.
Weissmann concluded that the DOJ is now operating under a “chaotic” and “unlawful” system, earlier saying he finds it “hard to see” how someone like Blanche, who knows the department’s “tradition” and is surrounded by people with a “love for the institution,” could be responsible for doing “real harm to real people.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the DOJ for comment.
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