Overview
- New reporting says Todd Blanche has launched a sweeping push that targets figures long criticized by the White House, including former CIA director John Brennan, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, and a renewed look at former FBI director James Comey.
- The Justice Department has obtained an indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center that charges wire fraud, false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to conceal money laundering tied to the group’s paid informants program.
- Legal analysts and former prosecutors questioned the SPLC case after Bloomberg noted prosecutors used a bank deception statute without alleging the required intent to influence a bank, a gap that could prompt a judge to dismiss the case or demand grand jury transcripts.
- Blanche has reshaped sensitive investigations and staffing by bringing in veteran prosecutor Joe diGenova to steer a broad ‘grand conspiracy’ inquiry and by boasting he ‘cleaned house’ of prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases.
- Republican Senator Thom Tillis says he will block Blanche’s confirmation in the Senate Judiciary Committee over Blanche’s Jan. 6 stance, as some Trump allies also press for alternatives such as Jeanine Pirro or Ed Martin.