{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.smith.senate.gov/u-s-senator-tina-smiths-statement-on-voting-against-the-confirmation-of-attorney-general-todd-blanche/", "U.S. Senator Tina Smith\u2019s Statement on Voting Against the Confirmation of Attorney General Todd Blanche", "2026-08-08", "2026", "2026-08", "Democrat", "Senate", "MN", "Tina Smith", "S001203", "www.smith.senate.gov", "tinasmith", "https://www.smith.senate.gov/press-releases/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) released the following statement after voting against the confirmation of the President\u2019s nominee to be the next Attorney General, Todd Blanche:\n\n\u201cTodd Blanche has clearly demonstrated that he lacks the integrity to be Attorney General. He demonstrated it when he defended the President\u2019s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, when he defended the President\u2019s hush money payments, and he demonstrated it when he committed to enacting a national ban on distributing medication abortion,\u201d said Senator Smith. \u201cIt\u2019s disappointing, though not surprising, to see Republicans cave to the President once again and confirm a nominee who they know will continue weaponizing the Department of Justice against the President\u2019s political enemies.\u201d\n\nSmith had criticized Blanche earlier this week for threatening to invoke the Comstock Act, an antiquated anti-vice law from before women had the right to vote, to ban the distribution of medication abortion in every single state regardless of state level abortion protections, including Minnesota.\n\n###", 1, "2026-08-09T05:47:57Z", "2026-08-09T05:49:40Z"]], "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.smith.senate.gov/u-s-senator-tina-smiths-statement-on-voting-against-the-confirmation-of-attorney-general-todd-blanche/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.1912031807005405, "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"}