Blanched with Fear

Todd Blanche is answering questions from Senators as his Attorney General confirmation hearing gets underway. He’s Trump’s personal lawyer, he has further weaponized the Justice Department, he’s withheld Epstein files and given Ghislaine Maxwell a prison upgrade, he’s targeted the media, he pushed for the fund that would compensate Trump allies (including J6ers), and he’s otherwise wholly unqualified for the job. And with that, he opened the hearings by explaining that as acting Attorney General, he has been “restoring trust” in the DoJ.

+ “On Monday, two days before the Senate hearing to consider Todd Blanche’s nomination to become the nation’s chief law enforcement official, a federal judge strongly suggested that he may not even be fit to practice law. Of all the powers Americans give their government, none can curtail personal liberty like those of the Department of Justice, and this editorial board has listed the ways Mr. Blanche has abused that authority. He has celebrated the Jan. 6 rioters. He has misled Congress under oath. He has said it is Mr. Trump’s ‘right,’ and ‘indeed it is his duty,’ to use the department to investigate people he ‘has had issues with.'” NYT Editorial Board: We’re About to Find Out Whether Republican Senators Can Still Say No. (Don’t get your hopes up…)

+ In other confirmation news, Trump intelligence pick Jay Clayton refuses to say Biden won 2020 election.

+ Think we’re getting closer to a moment when insiders finally stand up to Trump? Maybe. But then again, maybe not. Treasury Unveils New $1 Gold Coin With Trump’s Face on It.