Confirmation Hearing for Attorney General Nominee Todd Blanche

I appreciate that you cooperated with this committee at every step and fulfilled your responsibilities in good faith.

while simultaneously running the world's largest law office.

The Senate has already judged your fitness for high office and confirmed you as the department's second in command.

Today, we consider you for a promotion, and we're not starting out from a blank slate.

You have a track record.

My Democratic colleagues have relentlessly attacked the department and your and President Trump's leadership.

They've called the department, quote unquote, a disgrace and suggest that the agency is broken.

Mr.

Chairman, we are here today with the awesome responsibility of choosing the next attorney general of the United States of America.

We're here because there's a vacancy in the office.

The president decided to fire the predecessor of Mr. Blanch after just 14 months on the job, after courts and grand juries blocked her from prosecuting the president's political opponents.

Seemingly, President Trump believes you, Mr. Blanch, will be more successful.

When you were first nominated to be Deputy Attorney General, Democrats raised concerns about the President's personal attorney serving as the top attorney in the Justice Department.

The Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America.

Since you were confirmed, the Department of Justice has literally violated dozens of court orders to advance the President's agenda.

Last year, you declared that the Justice Department was, quote, at war with the federal judiciary.

I brought that up to you yesterday.

I believe all of us, both sides of the table, need to be more careful with our rhetoric when it comes to the judiciary.

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you for being here.

I have the distinct pleasure of introducing Acting Attorney General Todd Blanch.

He serves and has served as our acting attorney general and our deputy attorney general.

And amongst all of the questioning today, most of which I hope is in good faith, sometimes it gets lost that he is a former prosecutor and dedicated his life to prosecuting for this nation.

The greatest testament to his good character and wise judgment is he is now a Floridian and my constituent as the newest Senator from the great state of Florida.

But he has led a very distinguished career within the realm of the Department of Justice of which he now seeks to head as the permanent Attorney General.