“Legal exposure!” Todd Blanche gets BAD NEWS after DISASTER testimony

I'm joined now by Senator Adam Schiff. Senator, I wanted to get your reaction. first and foremost to the hearing that. just took place with Todd Blanche, who. is of course vying to be the next. Attorney General. Did it Did you get the. impression after having watched him that. he was actually going to be adherent to. the Constitution as opposed to. continuing his job as Donald Trump's. personal criminal defense attorney? >> No, he made it very clear that through. his actions, he is really representing. the person of the president.

Not the American people, and that's the. central question at the heart of this. hearing. And that is who's representing. the public in all of that the Justice. Department is doing. So when it came to. the Epstein files, for example, he took. no responsibility for the fact the court. has said the Justice Department is in. violation of the law. He was asked. whether he would apologize to the. victims, and he tried to obfuscate. things by saying, "Well, I feel bad. whenever somebody's victimized by a a. crime." And it was pointed out to him, "No, no, the the one who did the. victimization in addition to Epstein was.

the Justice Department in releasing. victims' names, photos, personal information. Will you apologize. for your role in that?" He very. begrudgingly did. He wouldn't agree to. meet with the victims. He initially. claimed that he couldn't meet with the. victims, which is preposterous. And then when we went to other matters. like the the slush fund or the bogus. sham IRS settlement, he was once again.

defending the president, really not the. interest of the American people. >> I thought what was interesting was his. claim that when he was asked by one. senator if he would just get this over. with, release the files, just, you know, get it done, his initial words out of. his mouth were that would be illegal. Is. it illegal or against the law for Todd. Blanche to release the entirety of the. the Epstein files? And of course, I'm. not talking about victim information, but there are still 3 million documents.

that haven't yet been released. >> So, he is under legal obligation to. release these documents, not to withhold. any of them because they might embarrass. people or expose the identities of. powerful people who were perpetrating. any of these crimes that Epstein and his. confederates were responsible for. There may be some small set of material. that is grand jury material, where he. would have to go before a court, but we. know that there is uh millions of files. still not yet released, and no one has. any confidence, and not the judge that.

oversees the case, no one has any. confidence that Blanche and the. department are trying to do anything but. protect these Epstein offenders. Uh the, you know, Todd Blanche today tried to. argue that Donald Trump wanted these. files released, and he was pushing for. it, when we all know how hard he worked. to stop the bipartisan legislation that. mandated that disclosure. So, his. testimony was really duplicitous, particularly when it involved the. Epstein files, but also with the whole weaponization of.

the Justice Department. At times, he. would brag, like when he goes before the. conservative CPAC convention, about. firing all of the prosecutors and the. FBI agents who investigated his client, the president. Uh and then when I asked. him about that, he said, "Oh, that. wasn't me. That wasn't me." Took no. responsibility for it. Uh and that was. what we saw throughout the hearing. It. was this very duplicitous. uh Todd Blanche giving verbal approval.

of Department policies, but in his. actions demonstrating he had really no. adherence to the rule of law. His only. loyalty is to the person of the. president. >> Now, just a quick note to say that my. new book, The Day After, is now. available. If you'd like to support my. work and send a message to Donald Trump, who put me on his enemies list this. year, that his efforts to silence us in. independent media only make our voices. louder, then please do me a favor, support my work and order a copy. You. can click the link right here on the. screen in the post description or the. comments or go to link in my bio or to.

briantylercohen.com/book. Senator, if you have a head of the DOJ. who is engaged in a cover-up in blatant. violation of a law that was passed, the. Epstein Files Transparency Act, does he. shoulder any legal exposure by virtue of. continuing to perpetuate this cover-up? >> Yes, he does. Uh he's in violation of. the law and if he's misrepresenting. things to the court and the court has. basically said the Department of Justice. is misrepresenting facts, then yeah, he.

can be held accountable for it. Uh but. again, he's acting like he is Donald. Trump's lawyer in Epstein Files. litigation. When he went, for example, to talk to Ghislaine Maxwell, uh who is. one of Epstein's top or his top. co-conspirator, >> Right. >> uh when he went to talk with her and. interview her for 2 days, he brought no. one who was familiar with the facts of. the case. Uh it was an absurdity of an. interview. >> In fact, he even fired uh Maureen Comey,

who was in charge of the prosecution, who would have been the right person to. bring along to something like that. >> Absolutely. Or the FBI agents that had. worked on all those cases or other. prosecutors that really knew the facts. that could question her when she made. denials, when she claimed that she never. saw. uh underage uh girls uh in the residence. or at Mar-a-Lago or whatever giving out. massages. Uh when she made those. preposterous claims, there was nobody to. press her on it. Certainly Blanche.

didn't. And when you go to do that kind. of an interview, the question is who are. you representing there? And it was so. clear that he was there to represent the. president and not surprisingly after she. gave that that superficial exonerating. testimony, "Oh, I never saw anything. about Donald Trump. She's moved to this. camp, this prison camp. Inappropriate. for a sex offender like yourself. >> Right. I think I think the word flying. around the streets was club fed. Um I. want to switch gears a little bit here.

So, there is an expectation, a rumor. that Donald Trump is going to. uh use a 9:00 p.m. speech on Thursday. evening to claim that the election in. 2020 was rigged or illegitimate as a. result of some foreign interference. Uh. he'll There's also some rumors to. suggest that he might claim that the. election of Senator Warnock and Senator. Ossoff is uh consequently illegitimate. Do you think that he's using this as. justification to then shoehorn through.

some further voter suppression efforts? Uh and what do you And if so, what do. you think that would look like? >> Yes, I think that's exactly what he's. doing. It is certainly true that he's. never been able to accept his loss in. the election and he's lied about it ever. since. Uh and those lies led to that violent. attack on January 6th. But, it's also. the case that the seizure of ballots in. Georgia, that this speech that's coming. up, this is also designed to lay the. foundation for further interference in. the upcoming elections. To make some.

false claim of foreign interference that. would justify seizure of ballot boxes or. calling out the military. I think it is. very much designed to sow. doubt uh in the American people about. our election system to somehow. rationalize what he may do when, as he. fully expects, they lose the midterm. elections. So, we have to be prepared for. everything. But, I think in terms of. what we can expect on Thursday, expect. the president to come out and lie to the. American people. After all, this is the. guy who, in that very election he's.

contesting, called the Republican Secretary of State. of Georgia. and urged him to find 11,780 votes that. didn't exist, but were just one more. necessary. the necessary to defeat Joe Biden in. that state. So, there was somebody. trying to commit a massive fraud on that. day, and his name is Donald Trump. But, expect him to bring more disinformation. lies. uh coming to us uh on Thursday night. >> Obviously, this issue has been litigated.

and relitigated and relitigated to. within an inch of its life. Everybody. who's acting in good faith knows that. it's complete That's not going. to stop Trump from doing it, but it does. um offer kind of an out for those who. are, again, acting in good faith to. recognize what the truth is. What have. you heard from your Republican. colleagues? Are they going to allow. themselves to be swayed publicly and. kind of glom onto his efforts to subvert. the upcoming election, or do you think. that there's going to be, you know, some. pushback to what is obviously, you know,

the umpteenth effort by Donald Trump to. claim fraud as a pretext to to issue. some voter suppression edicts moving. forward? >> Honestly, I have pretty low expectations. about my Republican colleagues. Very few have been able to speak out. about anything the president does. >> Yeah. >> There were very few voices, for example, in the hearing with Todd Blanche to push. back on this slush fund and the bogus. sham settlement about the president's. tax liabilities or the weaponization of.

the Justice Department. They spent more. time today during the hearing attacking. Merrick Garland of all people for. so-called weaponization during Garland's. tenure as Attorney General than they did. even acknowledging the bogus nature of. the seashells case against James Comey. or the case they tried to bring against. my colleagues in the Senate over a video. they made. So, I, you know, I don't have. a whole lot of confidence. You know, some of those that are on the way out. might be willing to speak out, but we. have seen these same senators who ran.

for their lives on January 6th. have now so many of them become. complicit in trying to completely. rewrite the history of that day, what. will they be willing to do going. forward? We have to expect more of the. same. >> It's nice to know that at least one. group of people thinks that Merrick. Garland was was aggressive. Um last. question here, in your estimation, and. this is just a prediction, do you. presume that uh Todd Blanche will be. confirmed as Attorney General? >> Well, there's one senator on the. committee, John Cornyn, who the.

president had a big hand in defeating, who has said that he has not reached a. conclusion yet, and he won't until he. has to vote on it. Um I hope that uh he. looks very carefully at this IRS. agreement. He seemed to be pretty. concerned about it today. Uh he pointed. out, quite rightly, that uh Todd. Blanche, when he said the slush fund is. dead, is really not in a position, unless he's truly representing the. president, as opposed to what he claims,

claims to be representing the Justice. Department and the IRS. If he's only. representing one party to that so-called. settlement agreement, then how can he speak for the other. party? And the simple answer is, he. can't, unless it's the same lawyer for. both. And the reality is, as we could. all tell, he is representing both the. president and the Justice Department, but truly only the interests of the. president. >> We'll leave it there. Senator Schiff, thanks so much for taking the time. >> Thank you.