1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

Busy time for hypocrisy. Todd Blanche heading for the hot seat on Wednesday. Or at least a Republican kabuki version of it. Republicans led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, chair of the Judiciary Committee, have lauded Blanche’s progress on the more conventional work of the DOJ, like prosecuting fraud. This after a district judge just this week legally and verbally spanked Blanche for his role in DOJ aiding and abetting a Trump scheme to slush fund January 6 rioters. And the judge eviscerated an even more important scheme, and probably the real point to the whole circus, to make certain Trump and everyone in his family and business circle, never ever again had to be bothered by a pesky IRS trying to keep their financial dealings legal. The slush fund appears a dead horse. But the DOJ still stands by that jewel of an IRS self-deal. We’ll see what the GOP Senators who get to decide if Trump’s own Roy Cohn pocket-poodle gets to be America’s top cop say on Wednesday. Also this week Blanche’s DOJ subpoenaed several NYT reporters to testify about their reporting before a grand jury. Every administration complains about unfair media coverage. But the Trump administration is siccing the DOJ on the Fourth Estate. In the name of national security concerns. Because the NYT had the audacity to report the truth about the security inadequacies on Trump new white elephant Air Force One Qatar-gifted plane. The problem isn’t that the plane is not secure enough to assure our president’s safety. The problem is that the press reported it. Got that? Or to put it in sanctimonious-speak… “To be clear, reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are,” the DOJ said. “We value and appreciate the important role that the press plays in this country, but DOJ also plays an important role to make sure that the people entrusted with our nation’s secrets do what they’re supposed to do with that information, which means not sharing classified information.”” Not to worry. Def Sec Hegseth announced Monday that the Pentagon and DOJ have launched a joint task force to identify and prosecute people who leak sensitive government information. “Leaked information risks lives,” Hegseth said. “Access to confidential and secret information is a sacred trust. And those who betray that trust will be met with the full force of the law.” Good. Does that mean Hegseth will stop divulging military info to his Signal group chat? And stop allowing his wife to attend meetings at the Pentagon? Lastly from the guy who made hypocrisy great again… The deal that Trump and Iran struck last month to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate over Tehran’s nuclear program was merely “a test,” the president said this week. Funny. Just last month he wrote on social media that the “Great Deal will bring Peace and Security to the whole Region. Many presidents have tried to make Peace with Iran, and all have failed before me. The Leaders of the Region have, for the first time, found a President who can help them achieve real Peace.” Now he says it was all just a deliberate strategy. For what end is unclear. But maybe this one…Trump also said US will charge 20% “on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World.” Until Trump’s Monday announcement, US officials had been adamant that passage through the strait should not require paying tolls to anyone. And that Iran’s efforts to charge for shipping was unacceptable. Psych. Rinse. Repeat. Time to go listen to ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’