Petition: Media Must Cover Blanche as Trump's Fixer, Not AG

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — Trump's former personal defense lawyer — used the power of the Justice Department to hand the president something no American has ever received: blanket immunity from IRS audits, investigations, and prosecution for any federal tax offense he or his family may have committed, permanently. The arrangement was dressed up as a "settlement" of Trump's lawsuit against the IRS, but the judge overseeing the case said it never should have been reached in the first place. Blanche then told the Senate under oath that sweeping presidential immunity deals like this are "typical" — a claim so false it drew bipartisan pushback from Republican senators who threatened to tank his confirmation over it. Even then, Blanche refused to formally rescind the agreement in writing or put his assurances under oath.

This is not an attorney general doing his job. It is a personal fixer doing the president's bidding — using the full legal authority of the United States government to shield one man and his family from the tax accountability that applies to every other American citizen. When the nation's top law enforcement officer grants the president immunity from prosecution and then lies about it to Congress, that is corruption in plain sight.

We call on the media to cover Todd Blanche's confirmation not as a routine Senate proceeding, but as a referendum on whether the Justice Department will be permanently converted into the president's personal law firm. The public deserves reporting that names what Blanche has already done — and what confirming him would make permanent.