Donald Trump’s schedule indicated that this Tuesday morning he had “executive time” and “two political meetings,” all closed to the press. But it is clear that the vocation of real estate promoter is part of the genetic code of the President of the United States, so he found time to take journalists on a tour of the construction of his ballroom.
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While Trump enjoyed the progress of his great work, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was grilled by senators from the Senate Appropriations Committee following the announcement that the government will allocate $1.776 billion to compensate the alleged victims of the alleged instrumentalization of justice attributed to Joe Biden.
In that room, the noise of the drills outside the White House was replaced by the scent of corruption, as described by Democratic senators and quite a few Republicans, considering that this initiative will serve to compensate friends and allies of Trump, including those who charged and beat the police guarding the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when the president who lost at the polls incited a mobilization to overturn the election result.
This is the administration that has always preached law and order, that has deployed the National Guard on the streets of the nation’s capital and other cities. “Anyone can apply if they believe they were a victim of judicial instrumentalization,” Blanche responded to the specific question of whether those insurgents will be compensated. Much more polite than his predecessor Pam Bondi, he defended the creation of that fund and assured that no member of the Trump family will be able to benefit from that compensation fund, but the attackers of January 6 will.
“I was here that day. This was not a peaceful protest, it was a riot. It was a very, very bad day for our country,” emphasized Republican Senator Mike Rounds. “If you are going to create a fund, let’s make sure there is judicial oversight,” he requested.
Vice President JD Vance, acting as spokesperson, led the White House press conference (press secretary Karoline Leavitt is on maternity leave) and agreed with Blanche in defending the fund. “Not a dollar will go to President Trump,” he insisted and reiterated that no one is excluded from being compensated, including those convicted of attacking Capitol police officers.
“The people who would receive the money are people who have been prosecuted in a completely disproportionate manner in relation to any crime they committed,” he stressed.
“We are not trying to give money to anyone who attacked a police officer. What we seek is to give money, or rather, compensate, people against whom action was taken with full severity and who were mistreated by the judicial system. We have people accused of attacking law enforcement officers and that does not mean we are going to ignore the claims they present,” he insisted. Vance also made verbal gymnastics to defend investing those nearly $1.8 billion even though many citizens have problems buying food.
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Meanwhile, Blanche could not explain the reason why lawyer Brian Morrissey, general counsel of the Treasury Department, resigned just after the decision to establish this fund became known.
“I don’t know if it’s a coincidence,” responded the acting attorney general. “I can’t speak about the reasons for his resignation,” he added.
Although the protagonist remained silent and a Treasury spokesperson stated in a statement that Morrissey had served with integrity, no one seemed to doubt that there was a direct relationship between one thing and the other.
Morrissey was confirmed by the Senate for that position only seven months ago. The department in which he served is responsible for depositing that allocation of millions for compensations. Its distribution will be controlled by a body composed of five people. Blanche responded that “I have no idea” if Trump will suggest the names of the members.
One of the most confrontational moments occurred during the questioning by Democratic Senator Jake Reed, who compared Blanche to the right-hand man of a mafia boss.
“This entire hearing is exposing something that, to me, is very worrying,” Reed told Blanche. “You are a very talented lawyer, but from my perspective, you have very little loyalty to the Constitution and the American people, and you are the consigliere of the president,” he added.
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