[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 128 (Wednesday, August 5, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4467-S4468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Nomination of Todd Blanche

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I was never going to come out here and 
support Todd Blanche for a long list of reasons.
  I do believe he is one of the most corrupt Justice Department 
officials in our country's history, for one. He was Trump's former 
personal lawyer, and it seems that he never quit. The only difference 
now is that taxpayers are signing his checks instead of Trump. He was 
the one who negotiated a $1.8 billion slush fund to pay off violent 
insurrectionists and who cut a backroom deal to give the President and 
his entire corrupt family immunity from IRS investigations, not to 
forget that Todd Blanche is the guy who botched the Epstein file so 
badly that survivors had their names and faces exposed while the names 
of alleged abusers were hidden.
  This is a man who wouldn't meet with survivors until Senators put him 
under a tremendous amount of public pressure. When the meeting 
eventually got on the books, the survivors made it crystal clear 
Blanche didn't listen to them. He was more interested in checking a box 
than in hearing their stories or bringing them justice.
  All of that is, of course, absolutely unacceptable and disqualifying, 
but I come here today to sound the alarm on some of the most disturbing 
comments I have ever heard from the Nation's top law enforcement 
official. I guess Todd Blanche thought no one was listening because, on 
a private call with anti-abortion activists, Mr. Blanche told us all 
exactly what he plans to do if Senators confirm him. His goal was to 
make the Dobbs decision ``permanent in every single state''--``every 
single state''--not just in Texas or Idaho. He wants to ban abortion in 
Washington State, in California, in New York--in every State.
  He told them:

       We will have victory, and victory will be soon, and it will 
     be permanent.

  Victory over what exactly? Victory over women who just want to make 
their own healthcare decisions? Victory over patients in States where 
abortion is legal--where voters have said over and over at the ballot 
box: Keep your hands off our rights?
  A DOJ spokesperson tried to clean up Blanche's words, saying he was 
only focused on restricting access to medication abortion in all 50 
States, as if that is somehow better.
  I am here to say: I will believe the tape. I believe Todd Blanche's 
own words.

[[Page S4468]]

  So let's be crystal clear about what this vote is. A vote to confirm 
Todd Blanche is a vote to endorse his fight to ban abortion in all 50 
States. Whatever happened to this being a State's decision?
  Every Republican who votes yes is voting for exactly that--his words, 
not mine--and any Republican who votes to confirm him will own that in 
every State, in every way. This isn't just a confirmation vote anymore; 
it is a rollcall vote in which Senators endorse banning abortion in all 
50 States at the Federal level. I am voting no.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.