Senator Durbin and I had some questions about the very unusual Blanche/Maxwell meeting. Here are some of the multiple weirdnesses: 🧵
The Deputy Attorney General (DAG) runs the Department of Justice; all its elements report through him to MAGA Bondi. He has plenty to do other than conducting witness interviews for two days down in Florida (where they have US Attorneys).
DOJ runs on procedure, and it’s not clear what procedures were followed because it’s not clear what this was. If it was a personal political errand for his erstwhile criminal client Donald Trump, that would explain no procedures.
If it was a pardon conversation, you might want pardon office; if investigative, FBI or other federal agent; if about her conditions of confinement, Bureau of Prisons; almost anything, local US Attorney. This fits in no regular procedure.
They haven’t even said if note-takers, stenographer or recordings memorialized what was said. If there’s no record, then Blanche and his sidekick just made themselves key witnesses to what went on. Usually prosecutors try to avoid that.
It’s extremely rare to meet on a law enforcement matter with a subject and her attorney but have no record kept of what went on. Meetings like that tend to be pretty formal, with the case agent present to write up a 302 or a stenographer taking a transcript.
The only other person they’ve disclosed was in the room was a political sidekick of Blanche’s from within the Deputy Attorney General’s office (ODAG). That is exceedingly rare, if not unprecedented, for Department of Justice business.
When there is no procedural thing that this bizarre meeting comports with, it suggests that this was not actual law enforcement; that Blanche had the plane, the title and the office of his official position, but was actually running Trump’s personal political errand.
ICYMI, here’s the letter I sent with @SenatorDurbin . Still no answers. judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/…
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