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As the midterm elections approach, voters should watch how the U.S. Senate handles President Trump’s nomination of Todd Blanche as the nation’s top law-enforcement officer. Blanche had a chance to prove himself as deputy attorney general. Instead, he collaborated with the most corrupt president in the nation’s history.
The Senate’s Republican majority is now confronted with its own test of loyalty to the rule of law. If the Senate needs a reminder of the standards we should expect from an attorney general, it can look to the Watergate scandal in 1973, when Elliot Richardson appointed a special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, to investigate President Richard Nixon’s role in the now infamous break-in and cover-up.
In October, Nixon directed Richardson to fire Cox. Rather than capitulate, Richardson resigned. In his resignation letter to Nixon, Richardson explained: “At the time you appointed me, you gave me the authority to name a special prosecutor if I should consider it appropriate.”
Richardson did so, making clear that “Although [Cox] will be in the Department of Justice and report to me — and only to me — he will be aware that his ultimate accountability is to the American people.” He also pledged he would “not countermand or interfere with the Special Prosecutor’s decisions or actions.”
“I trust that you understand that I could not in the light of these firm and repeated commitments carry out your direction [to discharge Cox.] Therefore,” said Richardson, “I feel that I have no choice but to resign.”
Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus then ascended to the top job; when Nixon directed him to fire Cox, he resigned as well. Nixon accepted their resignations, and the White House announced that Cox and his staff had been dismissed.
Nevertheless, the Watergate scandal intensified as the Senate conducted its own investigation and public hearings. Ten months later, on Aug. 7, 1974, Republican leaders informed Nixon that his support in Congress had completely collapsed and his impeachment and removal from office were inevitable. Nixon resigned the presidency the next day.
Today, Trump’s abuses of the presidency and the Justice Department make Nixon’s look like child’s play. As deputy attorney general, Blanche proved that he will not only tolerate Trump’s lawlessness but also participate in it. He has openly violated Congress’s bipartisan law requiring the release of all Epstein files. He has collaborated with Trump’s scheme to reward Jan. 6 rioters with millions of dollars in compensation for their prosecution and convictions related to Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 election.
Blanche and former Attorney General Pam Bondi fired or forced the resignation of Justice Department investigators and prosecutors who were assigned to participate in past investigations of Trump. The department has become so toxic and ethically challenged a workplace that around 5,500 attorneys, investigators and staff were fired or pushed to retire last year.
Blanche has collaborated to make the department Trump’s personal weapon of retribution with specious and malicious charges against the president’s perceived enemies. The Brennan Center for Justice says grand juries have refused to indict Trump’s targets at least 18 times. Courts or prosecutors have aborted 16 grand jury subpoenas, along with nearly half the cases against protesters and immigrants for alleged assaults of law enforcement officers. Courts have dismissed 16 lawsuits that sought state voter data and thousands of misdemeanor charges against migrants, quashed nine subpoenas that tried to force hospitals to turn over records on gender-affirming care, and dropped at least 79 cases related to ICE protests.
Although many cases have been criticized and rejected by judges, defendants pay a heavy financial, emotional and reputational price. Abuse by litigation is probably the point.
The case of the seditious seashells illustrates Trump’s pettiness — and Blanche’s willingness to use prosecutorial power for persecution on Trump’s behalf. The Justice Department indicted former FBI director James Comey for a photo he took of a group of seashells on a beach he said spelled “86 47.” Comey, who thought it was clever, posted the photo on social media. Blanche called it disgraceful and a “grave violation of the nation’s laws.” Comey is now charged with threatening Trump’s life.
Project Democracy points out the obvious conclusion: “In a healthy democracy, the justice system must not be weaponized to punish political opponents, chill dissent, or use law enforcement to achieve political objectives. Those are hallmarks of the authoritarian playbook.”
The Richardson and Ruckelshaus resignations illustrated an ironic truth: Those who most covet the job of attorney general may not be worthy to have it. The best candidates are willing to resign from the department in its defense. The best outcome would be for Blanche’s nomination to die in committee.
William S. Becker is a former U.S. Department of Energy central regional director and former special assistant to the department’s assistant secretary of energy efficiency and renewable energy. He is executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.
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