Yes, indeed, they did. The reason is quite the point of contention, and it came as a total surprise. Trump was told someone would take action. He did, they did, and it blew Trump’s wants out of the water. It’s about damn time the GOP did something right. With gratitude for Raw Story:
The GOP delivered one of its most “remarkable” humiliations of President Donald Trump this week, which stunned a former federal prosecutor. Last week, the GOP successfully held up Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation to the attorney general job over concerns about the $1.776 billion so-called “anti-weaponization” fund the Trump Department of Justice has sought to create to pay former January 6 rioters and Trump allies who claim they were wrongfully prosecuted by the government. The DOJ is pursuing the fund as part of a settlement between Trump and the IRS in a $10 billion lawsuit that stemmed from Trump’s tax returns being leaked as part of a trove of tax returns released by an agency contractor.
Thank you, Senator Cornyn and Senator Tillis! If you recall, saying the slush fund is dead and putting it in writing are two widely different things. Blanche refuses to put it in writing. That’s a big deal. And that whole suit with Trump and the IRS is really fishy, to the point that it stinks to high heaven (so to speak). That just bugs me. It’s so brazen, the US Government suing itself. That’s SO WRONG. But this is Trump we’re discussing, with his blatant grifts and “patriots”. The GOP did it. He wants someone who will do what he is told. Blanche is happily going along with whatever Trump wants, like the stupid suit.
The move was remarkable to Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor, who said on a new episode of “The Daily Beast Podcast” that the move was humiliating to the president, who has gotten used to getting everything he wants from his Republican caucus. “It is a question of the message,” Weissmann said. “It sends a sort of humiliation to the president and to Todd Blanche, because they do have a majority of Republicans in the Senate, and it means that even though they have the majority, they cannot muster the necessary votes here because they have gone too far.” Two Republicans, Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), both of whom are leaving Congress in November, held up Blanche’s nomination last week because he refused to put in writing that the Trump “anti-weaponization” fund was dead.
Yup. At least half of America wants that thing to be dead, too. It’s one hell of a slap in the face for anyone who was NOT a rioter on J6. Seriously, pay them because they went to jail for their crimes? It’s a matter of the court, not some bogus action on the part of the government. If they were found guilty, and they were, then they screwed up and should not be getting paid for it! They’ve already feasted on our money, because how are those jails paid for? Pardon the digression. The slush fund needs to be confirmed dead. Period. Moving along.
Trump balked at pulling Blanche’s nomination as negotiations ground to a halt, but also doubled down on his pursuit of the fund by calling on Republicans in Congress to make the fund official through legislation. What made it even more difficult to understand, according to Weissmann, is that it took this long for the GOP to come around on Blanche. “Todd Blanche … has been found by a federal judge to engage in vindictive prosecution. He was referred in terms of his conduct to a disciplinary board. He, in my view, obstructed the independent investigation of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, the two people who were killed in Minnesota. I mean, there’s a litany of things,” Weissmann said.
Indeed there are. Remember, he was one of Trump’s lawyers for a court case, and they lost? But now Trump wants him to be AG to create that slush fund and do whatever Trump wants, including prosecuting people on Trump’s Revenge Tour™. Lawyers have been doing very well at losing, not winning, prosecuting Trump’s perceived enemies. But Blanche is blocked for now. That’s something. Trump may try again after Senators Cornyn and Tillis are gone. Hopefully he’ll have just as much trouble as he had the first time.
See you tomorrow!
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