STATEMENT: Sen. Schiff on Todd Blanche’s Confirmation as Attorney General

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) issued the following statement after voting against the nomination of Todd Blanche to be U.S. Attorney General:

"As I said his confirmation hearing, the fundamental problem with Todd Blanche isn't that he's inexperienced or unintelligent. It's that he's never been able to shed his role as criminal defense lawyer for Donald Trump. He cannot and will never do it.

"I voted to oppose his nomination. And he should have been rejected for numerous reasons:

"He has used the Department of Justice to enrich the President of the United States - leveraging the power of the DOJ and IRS to make the president, his family, and his businesses more money and to provide immunity for their actions - that is not the job of an Attorney General.

"Under Blanche, the Justice Department has become an instrument of revenge and reward. We should not confirm an Attorney General who believes the president has a right and a duty to go after his enemies and bring sea shells cases against them.

"His efforts to protect the president and others in the Epstein Files were a scandalous abuse of power in which he covered up and withheld documents to protect Donald Trump and further injured the victims by publishing their names and photos.

"Blanche has sought to compensate cop beaters who attacked the Capitol in support of the president. Even if the anti-weaponization fund doesn't move forward, Blanche's Justice Department has been using other funds of the department to pay off criminals and cronies of the president.

"He has also violated his code of ethics, firing career officials involved in cases against Donald Trump - the same cases in which he served as the president's personal criminal defense attorney.

"A nominee with such a record should never be made Attorney General, not if we ever hope to preserve what is left of the rule of law. Todd Blanche will never do what's best for the American people. Only what's best for Donald Trump."

###