Washington, D.C. — Today, during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) questioned Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and nominee for deputy attorney general, on his attorney-client relationship with Trump, including whether he would recuse himself from overseeing any investigations into Trump’s cases he worked on.
Watch the full clip HERE.
Key Excerpts:
On Blanche’s willingness to preserving evidence from Trump’s lawsuits:
Schiff: […]Let me ask you very specifically about the Mar-a-Lago case. The Justice Department formally had recommended Volume II be made public. Do you support Volume II of the report being made public?
Blanche: No.
Schiff: Okay. Do you commit to preserving the evidence in both those investigations?
Blanche: I commit for sure, to following the law and following the rules.
Schiff: But you won’t commit to preserving the evidence. Let’s say you have the discretion about destroying the evidence? Do you commit today to preserving the evidence in both those cases?
Blanche: I commit to following the law.
Schiff: And if you can’t, commit to preserving the evidence in those cases in which you were the defense lawyer, I think again, that speaks to the conflict of interest that you have as the president’s defense lawyer.
Blanche: I didn’t not commit to it. I said I would follow the law. I’m not sure. I’m sure why.
Schiff: Mr. Blanche, I understand. Everybody can say, generically, they’ll follow the law. But I’ve asked you a simple question about whether you will preserve evidence, and you can’t say yes.
On Blanche’s recusal from cases he worked on as Trump’s attorney:
Blanche: […] If the career Justice Department attorney says to me, you do not have to recuse yourself. I’m not going to sit here today and say that I will still say I will recuse myself.
Schiff: Okay well that answers my question. You don’t think it’s a conflict of interest sufficient that you would, sitting here today, tell me that were —
Blanche: That’s not what I said. That’s not what I said.
Schiff: Yeah, no, I get it. I find it remarkable where we are.
Blanche: Well, you’re restating something I didn’t say, Senator.
Schiff: No, I find it remarkable that you feel there’s any world in which you could somehow participate in an investigation of people where you represented the president in that same investigation.
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