{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases/in-judiciary-committee-hirono-votes-against-advancing-blanche-confirmation", "In Judiciary Committee, Hirono Votes Against Advancing Blanche Confirmation", "2026-08-04", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "HI", "Mazie K. Hirono", "H001042", "www.hirono.senate.gov", "hirono", "https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "~ Watch Senator Hirono\u2019s Statement Here ~\n\nWASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) a senior member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, voted against advancing Todd Blanche\u2019s nomination to serve as the United States Attorney General. In a Judiciary Committee executive business meeting, Senator Hirono raised concerns about Mr. Blanche\u2019s ability to lead an independent U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) committed to enforcing the rule of law.\n\n\u201cMr. Blanche has demonstrated that his words to us at his hearing do not matter. I intend to judge Mr. Blanche not by his words but by his actions. Even though he said he would cooperate with the New Mexico Epstein investigation, he will not actually do so. Even though he claims to follow the constitution and the law, he acts as the President\u2019s lawyer, catering to his whims,\u201d said Senator Hirono. \u201cAt a time when DOJ has lost thousands of career attorneys with millennia of combined experience, and when DOJ\u2019s independence from politics is no longer in existence, I cannot vote in favor of someone whose actions so clearly make him ineligible to serve as Attorney General\u2014even of a department as compromised as this Department of Justice, which is basically the Department of Retribution and Revenge.\u201d\n\nSince the beginning of President Trump\u2019s second term, Senator Hirono has been fighting back against the Trump Administration\u2019s flagrant attacks on the rule of law. Last month, during Mr. Blanche\u2019s nomination hearing, Senator Hirono pressed Blanche on his role in weaponizing the DOJ against President Trump\u2019s perceived enemies, his failure to rescind the anti-weaponization slush fund, and his commitment to assisting the state of New Mexico\u2019s investigation into Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s Zorro Ranch. In March, on the Senate Floor, Senator Hirono opposed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act which, unlike its name suggests, would make it significantly harder for Americans to exercise their right to vote. Additionally, Senator Hirono has consistently raised alarms about the Administration\u2019s failure to adequately address cryptocurrency related crimes. Senator Hirono has also consistently sought justice for sexual assault survivors, including those assaulted by Jeffrey Epstein and President Trump.\n\nWatch the video of Senator Hirono\u2019s statement here. A full transcript of Senator Hirono\u2019s statement is available below:\n\nThank you, Mr. Chairman.\n\nI asked Mr. Blanche questions in three broad areas during his hearing two weeks ago.\n\nFirst, I asked him about the Epstein files. Specifically, I asked whether he would cooperate with the New Mexico Department of Justice\u2019s investigation into Epstein\u2019s Zorro Ranch. And I asked if he would help state law enforcement get the information that it was seeking from the Epstein files.\n\nAt the hearing, he said DOJ would cooperate. But in follow-up questions for the record, he dodged. And I understand that DOJ is actually stonewalling the New Mexico Department of Justice in its request for information in its investigation.\n\nThis public show of concern contrasted with private dismissiveness is how he treated the survivors who met with him, the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein.\n\nI asked one of those survivors about the meeting that he finally had with the survivors.\n\nShe said, \u201cWe walked away with a feeling of demoralization because he did not come into that meeting looking to work with us in good faith.\u201d\n\nI thank and commend the survivors for their courage in fighting for justice.\n\nThe second category of questions I asked Mr. Blanche two weeks ago centered on DOJ\u2019s independence. I asked him the simple question, \u201cDo you believe it is the President\u2019s \u2018right\u2019 and \u2018duty\u2019 to order the investigation or prosecution of his perceived enemies?\u201d\n\nMr. Blanche responded, \u201cI can\u2019t answer that yes or no.\u201d He might as well just have said yes.\n\nIn follow-up questions for the record, I asked him the simple question, \u201cIf confirmed, will your highest duty be to the Constitution of the United States or to the President of the United States?\u201d\n\nHe left the answer to that question blank. Blank. When he is sworn in as Attorney General, he will swear to uphold and defend the Constitution, but we know that oath will take a back seat to his loyalty to the President.\n\nThe third category of questions I asked him was related to the slush fund. At his hearing, I asked him whether he had rescinded the Order dated May 18, 2026, setting out parameters for the anti-weaponization fund. He testified that he had rescinded it.\n\nIn questions for the record, I asked him on what date he had rescinded the order and this fund. He did not answer the question with a date.\n\nHe refused to end this felon fund in writing until he was forced into it in order to secure needed votes from my Republican colleagues. And how can we trust that this so-called \u201cdeath\u201d will be lasting when he has shown that his words to us at his hearing do not matter? He was under oath at the hearing, but he\u2019s hardly going to prosecute himself for lying to Congress, which he did.\n\nMr. Chairman, I intend to judge Mr. Blanche not by his words but by his actions.\n\nEven though he said he would cooperate with the New Mexico Epstein investigation, it seems he will not actually do so. Even though he claims to follow the constitution and the law, he acts as the President\u2019s lawyer, catering to his whims and protecting him.\n\nAnd even though he said repeatedly that the anti-weaponization fund is dead, he had to be forced literally kicking and screaming to memorialize that death in written.\n\nThat non-binding writing will mean little when the President wants the fund and is loudly saying so. Who do you think Mr. Blanche will side with?\n\nIs he going to uphold this so-called non-binding statement made to secure today\u2019s vote from some of my Republican colleagues? Or the wishes of the President to whom he is loyal above all?\n\nAt a time when DOJ has lost thousands of career attorneys with millennia of combined experience, and when DOJ\u2019s independence from politics is no longer in existence I cannot vote in favor of someone whose actions so clearly make him ineligible to serve as Attorney General\u2014even of a department as compromised as this Department of Justice, which basically is a Department of Retribution and Revenge.\n\nAnd I urge my colleagues to vote no as well.\n\nThank you, Mr. Chairman.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-05T07:37:37Z", "2026-08-05T07:38:44Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hirono.senate.gov/news/press-releases/in-judiciary-committee-hirono-votes-against-advancing-blanche-confirmation"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.726438058540225, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}