Donald Trump told a private dinner last Wednesday that Todd Blanche will be the next attorney general, setting up a confirmation fight that is likely to center on whether the president wants a loyalist, or a Justice Department chief with room to push back. Blanche has already been serving as acting attorney general for two months, but the announcement gave his future a sharper political edge.
That is why Andrew Weissmann is being read now. The former Justice Department official and Mueller prosecutor has just published Liar’s Kingdom: How to Stop Trump’s Deceit and Save America, and it became an instant New York Times bestseller three weeks ago. In a recent discussion, Weissmann cast Blanche as more than a caretaker, saying he had been Bondi’s right hand before taking control of the Department of Justice and had carried the ethos of his old job as Trump’s personal attorney into the top law enforcement post.
Weissmann said Blanche’s confirmation battle could end up saying as much about the Trump era as about Blanche himself. He argued that the hearing would test how far the rule of law has been undermined in the administration, and he noted that Blanche has already made a series of serious missteps. The latest, he said, is the administration’s announcement of a $2 billion fictitious settlement, an issue that remains pending before the judge overseeing the case, who wants to hear why it is not fraud upon the court.
The problem for Blanche is that the same total loyalty that may please Trump could complicate his path through the Senate. Weissmann said Bondi had been willing to give Trump 92 percent of what he wanted, while Blanche may be prepared to give him 98, 99, or 100 percent. That kind of devotion may be an asset with the president, but Senate Republicans have sometimes expected at least some independence from a person running the Justice Department, and that is where the fight is likely to land.
Weissmann, who served as chief of the Fraud Section at the Justice Department from 2015 to 2019 and later as a lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller’s special counsel’s office from 2017 to 2019, said there are two stories at work: corruption and complicity. He also contrasted Blanche with Bill Barr, saying Barr was extraordinarily smart and played chess, not checkers. On Blanche, Weissmann said, there is simply more to ask about. The real question now is whether Senate Republicans decide that Blanche’s loyalty is disqualifying, or whether they treat it as the job description.
