Todd Blanche is now the Attorney General of the United States. He was Trump's personal defense lawyer who defended Trump in multiple criminal indictments, including the New York "hush money" trial, and he acted as his trusted personal counsel through various state and federal legal challenges.
It is highly unusual in modern U.S. history for a president to appoint his personal defense lawyer to serve as Attorney General. While presidents historically appointed close political allies or campaign managers, modern legal norms demand strict institutional separation between the President’s personal legal troubles and the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Blanche's appointment is a blatant conflict of interest. The Attorney General represents the United States and the American people, not the president as an individual. Can Trump's former personal defense lawyer face intense scrutiny over whether he can objectively oversee federal law enforcement, or if he will act as the president's private counsel?
For your information, here is a list of Trump attorneys who at one time worked for him and what happened to them as a result. Blanche is NOT in good company:
* Roy Cohn — Disbarred; dead
* Michael Cohen — Disbarred; pleaded guilty to tax, campaign and false-statement crimes
* Rudy Giuliani — Disbarred in NY and DC; $148M in defamation damages
* Alina Habba — Sanctioned $1M for frivolous litigation.
* Boris Epshteyn — Pending AZ criminal charges in fake-elector case.
* John Eastman — Disbarred in CA and suspended in DC; AZ criminal case pending.
* Kenneth Chesebro — Disbarred in NY; pleaded guilty in GA; WI case pending
* Sidney Powell — Pleaded guilty in GA.
* Jenna Ellis — Pleaded guilty in GA; suspended in CO; AZ criminal case pending.
* Jeffrey Clark — Facing criminal charges in AZ over fake-elector scheme.
* Christina Bobb — Facing AZ criminal charges over fake-elector scheme.
Total number of criminal convictions or disbarments among all of Ronald Reagan’s, George H. W. Bush’s, Bill Clinton’s, George W. Bush’s, Barack Obama’s, and Joe Biden’s lawyers:
0
Total number of criminal convictions or disbarments among Donald Trump’s lawyers:
Nine and counting
12 comments:
When a nation knowingly elects a criminal to the highest office in the land the nation should expect exactly what this nation is getting under trump. A criminal administration with an Attorney General who will out the president's personal criminal interests above the nation's and its people.
The noose is tightening and the criminality will only increase. This nation is becoming a Turd world sh*thole under trump. America's most corrupt and indecent president in its entire history.
will put the president's personal criminal interests above the nation's and its people.
Damn auto spell check on phone!
The best aspect of this post are all the lawyers who were convicted. There are some who should have been when they sold guns to a foreign country but that just didn't happen.
You mean this, Skud?:
”Attorney General Edwin Meese III did not sell the weapons himself, but rather publicly revealed in November 1986 that the Reagan administration had secretly sold arms to Iran and illegally diverted the proceeds to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, leading to the Iran-Contra affair.
Attorney General Meese led the initial internal Justice Department inquiry that uncovered the diversion of funds.
The Operations:
National Security Council officials—most notably Lt. Col. Oliver North—facilitated the covert arms sales and financial transfers.
The Aftermath: The revelation led to multiple congressional investigations and independent counsel prosecutions.
Also in the aftermath Shaw... there were some pardons if I remember correctly.
As for Skud's illusion to I'm sure Fast and Furious, I wonder if he knows there were similar operations during the admin of GW Bush? Or that once the info from Fast and Furious, the Trump DOJ did not prosecute anyone? If a crime was committed, it should be investigated and the person or people charged, tried and found guilty or not. Then sentenced, or not.
That's how this works.
Like we did for Iran Contra... i mean before those convicted received pardons.
Ms. Shaw, I really meant the one who sold guns to Mexico that killed a border agent. Of course the president intervened and he was not prosecuted which confirms it pays to have influential friends. I do have a feeling you knew who I was referring to because you do not suffer from lapse of memory.
”No federal officials or Obama administration employees were found to have committed crimes, and consequently, none were criminally prosecuted regarding Operation Fast and Furious.
An exhaustive 19-month, 471-page independent investigation by Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz concluded that while the operation was deeply flawed and plagued by systemic failures, there was no evidence of criminal intent or a criminal cover-up by senior administration
No Criminal Charges Recommended: The Inspector General's report explicitly chose not to recommend criminal charges against any Department of Justice (DOJ) or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) personnel.
Administrative Penalties: Instead of criminal prosecution, the report cited 14 federal employees for administrative and disciplinary action due to management failures.
Resignations and Departures: High-ranking personnel faced severe professional consequences rather than legal ones. For example, acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson retired immediately, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein resigned following the report's release.
Top Officials Cleared of Wrongdoing
Attorney General Eric Holder: The investigation cleared Holder of designing the tactics or participating in a cover-up. It concluded he had no prior knowledge of the controversial "gun-walking" tactics before they became public.
President Barack Obama: No evidence connected President Obama to the creation or implementation of the operation.”
One thing some people miss...
Appointing personal favorites to Cabinet positions has a long history in the US. Even including the DOJ, as evidenced by JFK's appointment of his brother RFK.
It was an ethical lapse and we as a country corrected that in 1967 with the Federal Anti-Nepotism Act. Then, Nixon had in place as DOJ, his former campaign manager, John Mitchell, who chose politics over the law.
He was followed by Richard Kleindienst who sadly also chose loyalty to Nixon over an open investigation into what happened.
Then both new DOJ Elliott Richardson and Deputy DOJ William Ruckelshaus were ordered by Nixon to fire Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Famously, they both resigned. Finally Nixon got the man he thought he wanted, and needed in conservative legal darling Robert Bork and Cox was sent packing. Bork would go on to appoint Leon Jaworski, keep the office of the Special Prosecutor fully funded and the investigations continued.
Bork believed his actions saved the DOJ.
After the Watergate Scandal, the Levi Reforms were put in place to immediately insulate the DOJ from the politics of the White House, stopping the very type of political meddling we saw in the Nixon Administration. Following that, Congress passed a series of bipartisan laws meant to permanently rein in those executive abuses.
And until the current Trump Admin, those rules and laws were mostly followed by successive administrations.
So, as most sentient beings can see, yes, the Kennedy Admin erred. Congress fixed that. Then the Nixon Admin erred. Congress and the DOJ fixed that. Then the Trump Admin erred, and MAGA claimed "whataboutism", citing Kennedy.
As opposed to dealing with the facts.
Whenever I post a subject concerning Trump and his behavior or that of his administration, both skud and -FJ/JoeConservative/Thersites bring up past, already litigated subjects related to previous Democratic administrations.
-FJ did this on Dave Miller's post on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool subject by inserting comments about the J6, and essentially hijacking the post.
And skud is doing it here by bringing up the already litigated "Fast & Furious" subject, when this post is about Trump's newly appointed AG and Trump's previous attorneys' poor records as honest lawyers.
Instead of addressing the subject, giving their opinions ON THE SUBJECT, they change the subject and use "whataboutisms."
This behavior is a classic rhetorical tactic known as whataboutism, a form of the tu quoque (appeal to hypocrisy) fallacy designed to deflect criticism by shifting focus to an opponent's alleged misdeeds.
tu quoque Latin for "you too or you also" or in this context, "whataboutism."
I posted about Trump's previous lawyers' misdeeds and felonies, and skud reached back to the Obama administration and "Fast & Furious," which had been litigated, and therefore, not relevant to this post.
Holding administrations accountable is important regardless of the political party. However, changing the subject to a different administration doesn't address or change the facts of the specific issue being discussed in this post.
The merry-go-round that skudsie and the MAGA crowd of many faced trolls love.to ride on.
We bring the up because Democrats always set the precedent.
Not talking to you skud but about you. No response is necessary as I know you'll just say what you think will get me off of your back.
I do wonder if skud can stay on topic. I've been reading their posts for more than a minute and unless the topic is one of their pet beliefs I've yet to see them stay on target. This post is classic skud. Also makes me believe that even though they aren't a registered MAGA they sure do present a MAGA shape.
When WeThePeople are on the other side of this mess there will be another set of legislation to prevent this exact situation from happening only I would love to see something a bit more proactive, meaning agencies charged with independent oversight and funded with monies untouchable by any of the branches of the Federal Government. Living through these times are too stressful for those already on the edge.
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