Trump has better options for intelligence and attorney general nominations 

On Monday, President Trump formally nominated Todd Blanche as attorney general. Blanche has been acting attorney general since Pam Bondi was removed from office on April 2.

The question Trump must face is whether Blanche can be confirmed. He has clearly auditioned for the job on a full-time basis. Trump wants an attorney general who will bend the Justice Department to his wishes, which are dominated by his retribution campaign against perceived political opponents. 

Blanche issued a well-deserved indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which over the years has become a left-wing lawfare operation. On the other side of the ledger, though, Blanche signed off on a settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the government he now runs, which provides immunity for Trump and family, and was to create a fund totaling nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars to be distributed to those who claim legal mistreatment at the hands of the federal government.

According to Blanche’s testimony before the House Appropriations Committee on June 2, the administration will no longer pursue the fund. But Blanche maintained that the immunity from tax prosecution for Trump and his family remains in force. That is the equivalent of a get-out-of-jail-free card before anyone has determined you did anything wrong. It is a free pass for Trump to do whatever he wants to benefit himself at the expense of America’s taxpayers.

That blanket immunity for the Trump family will be a huge problem for Blanche in his confirmation hearing. The attorney general is not the president’s lawyer, even if........

© The Hill