One of President Donald Trump’s former administration lawyers thinks that his nominee for attorney general has disqualified himself through his conduct.
In a video for the Justice Connection coalition, Ty Cobb, a former prosecutor and lawyer in Trump’s first administration, explained why the Justice Department should have a less compromised nominee.
“Every assistant takes a oath, and the oath is basically to swear loyalty to the Constitution, not to an individual,” said Cobb. “People that I know who have served in the administrations of the past 50 years of my professional career have all been people who devoted themselves to the country, not to an individual.”
He went so far as to allege that under Blanche’s leadership the United States is “much less safe” and that the Justice Department “has never been in worse shape.”
The larger objection that many have with Blanche, however, is an ethical one. The Cobb video included a clip of Blanche thanking Trump for bringing him to the White House and saying, “I love you, sir.” Another clip included was the gaffe from his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week in which Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) asked whether Blanche was “friends” with Trump.
“I’m his lawyer,” Blanche said before quickly correcting himself. “Was his lawyer.”
Cobb said that Blanche “has taken efforts and measures in his short time as acting attorney general to pursue revenge prosecutions. I think that’s something that is disqualifying to be attorney general. The ethical lines between the Department of Justice and the White House are very clear. I’ve been on both sides. It’s important that the Justice Department be independent if the rule of law is to be sustained in America.”
Under Blanche, Cobb said that “there will be no ethical lines between the White House and the attorney general.” One of the biggest problems is that “there are no lines now.”
He closed by calling Blanche simply “unfit” to serve in the post.
The group that has been collecting statements from former Justice Department alumni, and its website says they are fighting “to protect DOJ’s apolitical workforce and uphold the rule of law. Right now, FBI agents, civil rights attorneys, prosecutors, national security experts and so many others are being fired, involuntarily transferred or placed on administrative leave. Many more fear they’ll be next.”
The group also mobilized a collection of more than 1,200 former Justice Department employees across 14 former administrations to oppose Blanche in a letter alleging that he has torn apart the DOJ by creating a culture of fear, rampant firings based on work they were assigned to do.