Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) launched a scorched-earth tirade at acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing Tuesday, demanding a federal prosecutor’s firing.
Tillis and Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) had spent two weeks blocking Blanche’s path to the Senate floor, demanding written proof that a Justice Department fund worth $1.776 billion was permanently dead, according to NPR.
Critics said the fund would pay Trump allies, including Jan. 6 rioters, and both senators are lame-duck lawmakers leaving Congress in January.
On Sunday night, Blanche issued two written orders, Punchbowl News reported. Critics said the deal had loopholes. Tuesday morning, Tillis announced he would vote yes — then turned the hearing into an attack.
“It’s done. It’s been rescinded, and I am satisfied. I also feel like Senator Cornyn addressed the other piece of it that has to do with the audit to my satisfaction,” Tillis said at the hearing.
But a former Justice Department lawyer told CBS News the order had no legal effect, warning the fund could be revived.
Blanche’s order rescinded his own implementation directive, not the underlying settlement that created the fund. That settlement can only be voided with Trump’s written consent, which was never obtained, CBS News reported.
“You know, the thing that interests me — and I’m kind of curious about the speeches that come after here — is how everybody has this view of they’re as pure as the driven snow, and it’s the other side that has a problem,” Tillis said, pivoting to attack both parties.
He pointed to the FBI’s 2016 Crossfire Hurricane probe of the Trump campaign, former IRS official Lois Lerner’s targeting of conservative groups in 2013, and former President Joe Biden’s preemptive pardons for family members and congressional allies on his way out the door.
“If you want to talk about weaponization, take a look at the Biden administration. Take a look at the Obama administration. The bottom line is nobody is clean here. Maybe it’s a little bit more intense in this administration,” Tillis said.
“I’m going to support Mr. Blanche’s nomination, but what I hope I see out of him is a bending of the curve of this absurdity,” Tillis said.
That absurdity, Tillis said, included charges brought against former FBI Director James Comey in North Carolina — where Blanche’s own Justice Department indicted Comey in April for posting a beach photo of seashells arranged to read “86 47,” a phrase used to protest Trump, the nation’s 47th president.
“The 86 47 — some bonehead in North Carolina thinks that that’s a crime. Well, they better damn sure have information to back it up, because if all it is is a picture, that person should lose his or her job,” Tillis said.
“Similarly, the people who went after Republicans in the Biden administration should probably be disbarred or disciplined,” Tillis said.
Tillis’s yes vote will likely send Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats and a confirmation vote is expected before the chamber leaves for August recess, according to NBC News.
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