'Stunning': Whitehouse WARNS fund deal 'doesn't prevent' Jan 6ers from getting 'easy settlement'

[0:00] With justice in America on the line, let's bring in Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. [0:05] He is on the Judiciary Committee and is the first committee member to join MSNOW since the vote this morning. [0:11] Senator, thank you so much for being with us. [0:13] You were in the room where it happened. [0:15] Tell us what it looked like, what it felt like, and how you were feeling now that the vote is over. [0:19] What was astounding was at the end of the day, after the long negotiations and the delay in confirming Todd Blanche, how little the Republican senators got for their efforts. [0:38] Basically, Blanche did nothing more than write down what he had already told them. [0:45] But none of it was in the form of any kind of an enforceable agreement. [0:51] It did nothing to solve the problem that Senator Cornyn himself raised, that Trump still has claims against the government under the original agreement. [1:05] It doesn't prevent Trump from pursuing those. [1:08] It doesn't prevent Blanche from doing Slush Fund 2.0, just giving it a new number and a new name. [1:15] And it certainly doesn't prevent them from opening what I call the drive-by window, like an ice cream store, where MAGA offenders, cop beaters from January 6th, can come in and get a quick and easy free settlement under the Federal Tort Claims Act and dole out money that way. [1:34] So it was really kind of stunning how weak the result was at the end of the day. [1:43] So then why do it? [1:45] If you're Cornyn, if you are Tillis, why drag your feet for what amounts to a pinky promise? [1:52] I can't go to their motives. [1:54] To me, it doesn't make sense. [1:57] First of all, it doesn't solve the problem they said they wanted to solve. [2:00] Second, it doesn't change the character of the man who entered into those sleazy deals. [2:07] I use the example of a burglar. [2:08] The burglar gives back some of the jewelry he stole. [2:11] He's still a burglar. [2:13] He still was engaged in that misconduct. [2:15] And if you had any doubt about that, just go down to the Florida court where Todd Blanche's conduct is being examined for potential fraud upon the court. [2:24] The worst thing that a lawyer can be accused of, so rare that it's never happened before to any senior Department of Justice lawyer in the entire history of the Department of Justice. [2:35] And yet for this guy, it's still an open inquiry. [2:38] I think for a lot of folks, they watch what transpired today. [2:42] They understand everything you're saying about the ways in which a fund like this could reemerge in any number of forms. [2:49] What then can the Senate do about it? [2:52] What's the back check on a future fund, a future deal? [2:55] Well, I suppose that in the immediate term, senators who are up for re-election or who are not facing re-election could object and say, [3:09] until this is fixed, we are going to stop allowing nominees forward. [3:14] We are not going to clear bills. [3:17] They could use the tools of the Senate to try to enforce their objection. [3:25] The problem is they had those tools right now and failed to use them. [3:31] So it doesn't set a very high bar for what they might do in the future. [3:36] But do bear in mind that he still needs to clear the floor. [3:40] And there are plenty of other Republican senators who are not yet sold on all of this. [3:47] Again, go back to that fraud on the court thing. [3:49] This has never happened before in United States history. [3:52] The guy's being put forward while there's a fraud on a court investigation. [3:55] It's kind of unbelievable. [3:58] And it puts Republicans in a terrible place for November. [4:00] All right, we're going to come back to what you think that full vote looks like. [4:05] But I want to talk about Blanche's mishandling of the Epstein files. [4:09] It was something you focused on today as a key reason why you opposed him. [4:13] Epstein survivor Danny Bensky was in the committee room to watch the vote firsthand. [4:17] Our own Michael Schnell talked to Danny about what's next. [4:21] Take a listen. [4:24] What would be your message now to Senator Murkowski, Senator Collins, Senator Cassidy, [4:28] as, again, this was a significant hurdle for Todd Blanche, but it's not the entire ballgame. [4:33] What would be your message to them in the lead up to this final vote? [4:36] Yeah, to please take a meeting with us because there's so much information that we have to share, [4:40] not just investigative leads, but just how this process has gone down for the five administrations [4:45] and 30 years. [4:47] You know, there's just a lot of ground to cover. [4:50] So I would say take a meeting with us and we'll be able to get you the information you need. [4:55] Senator, help me understand what you think could happen between now [4:58] and the final vote that could keep Todd Blanche from being confirmed. [5:03] You know, I think Republicans have, they're between an Epstein and a Blanche place, [5:11] between a rock and a hard place over the Epstein stuff. [5:15] Because Blanche is put squarely in charge by Pam Bondi. [5:18] She's testified that the buck stops with him and he's been hiding stuff and they know it. [5:26] He first tried to hide the FBI 302s, the agent reports that specifically referred to allegations [5:33] that President Trump, Donald Trump, sexually and physically assaulted a girl around 14 years [5:40] old. [5:41] When those got caught out, they had to produce the 302s, but they still haven't produced the [5:48] agent's notes that they use to review, to write up the 302. [5:54] We know that there are 37 pages missing. [5:57] So like, what's up with that? [5:59] And then you've got billions of dollars of Epstein transactions that generated Treasury [6:05] suspicious activity reports. [6:08] And evidently them being called suspicious activity reports wasn't enough of a clue to [6:13] Blanche to investigate for suspicious activity. [6:16] So that whole arena of Epstein's financial misconduct was left just completely uncovered. [6:24] And then his trip down to Ghislaine Maxwell to buy her silence about Trump with an improvement [6:30] in her status to a club fed prison situation. [6:35] You know, you just pile all that stuff up and it's really hard to not have Jeffrey Epstein [6:40] stick to people who vote to confirm Todd Blanche. [6:45] I heard a lot of people refer to this not as a job interview, but a performance review, [6:50] given the amount of time that Todd Blanche has already had an opportunity to show us what [6:55] he would be like as AG in his acting capacity. [6:58] We got another indication of what he might do if he gets the job full time. [7:02] He dialed into a White House faith call just a few days ago. [7:05] And on that call, he talked about plans to roll back abortion access nationwide. [7:10] Take a listen. [7:10] Rest assured that we're working hand in hand with HHS and the FDA and the White House and [7:21] President Trump's team to get permanent solutions so that the Dobbs decision becomes permanent [7:29] in every single state. [7:31] Beyond the weaponization fund, beyond the IRS settlement, beyond the Epstein files, what [7:39] other horrors could await on the other side of this confirmation? [7:44] It is the question that has to worry Republican senators. [7:47] His record is so bad looking backwards that it's very, very hard to say that looking forwards [7:54] is going to be any better. [7:56] And having voted for the guy, they're going to own all of his future misconduct, all of [8:02] his future political decisions, all of his future defense of his primary client, Donald [8:08] Trump, it isn't going to be pretty. [8:11] And as you said, when you were in the first hearing with Todd Blanche, and he will own [8:16] Kash Patel, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, thank you so much for being with us. [8:21] Thank you.