WASHINGTON, D. C. – U.S. Sen. JD Vance announced Tuesday that he will delay U.S. Senate approval of all Justice Department nominees as a protest of “the unprecedented political prosecution” of former President Donald Trump by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice.
A statement from Vance called Trump “merely the latest victim of a Department of Justice that cares more about politics than law enforcement.” It said that the Justice Department under U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland “harasses Christians for pro-life advocacy, but allows hardened criminals to walk our streets unpunished.
“Starting today, I will hold all Department of Justice nominations,” Vance’s statement continued. “If Merrick Garland wants to use these officials to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, we will grind his department to a halt.”
Vance announced his hold on the nominations shortly before President Donald Trump appeared in Miami to plead not guilty to 37 felony charges related to his improper removal of White House documents that contained classified information. An aide to Trump named Walt Nauta, who was captured on surveillance cameras removing boxes at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, also was charged.
The indictment says Trump stored the boxes containing classified information at locations in Mar-a-Lago including a ballroom, a bathroom and shower, an office space, his bedroom and a storage room. It says he also showed the classified documents to others.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined comment on Vance’s actions.
A spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Vance’s hold will affect only two nominees at the moment: Todd Gee to be U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi and Rosemarie Hidalgo to head the Justice Department’s Violence Against Women Office.
“So much for the party of “law and order,” said a Twitter statement from Durbin. “Trump’s Republican allies are again holding up critical federal law enforcement officers—who prosecute violent crime, terrorism, and crimes against children—from being quickly confirmed.”
Other Ohio Republicans have joined Vance in denouncing the prosecution as political, though none have taken such concrete actions to defend him. Vance won Ohio’s Republican Senate primary last year soon after Trump endorsed his bid for the job.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, vocally defended Trump Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
Although the indictment says Trump admitted on tape that he had not declassified all the documents in his possession while he was empowered to do so as president, Jordan maintained that Trump had, in fact declassified all the documents.
“He said he declassified this material,” Jordan told CNN’s Dana Bash. “He can put it wherever he wants. He can handle it however he wants. That’s the law. That’s the standard. And Jack Smith can do all this 37 different counts and whatever he wants to do, but that doesn’t change the standard.”
U.S. Rep. Max Miller, a Rocky River Republican who served as an aide in Trump’s White House, posted a Twitter statement that said he watched “the spectacle in Miami today,” and was sad “to see the persecution of a great leader.” He pledged unwavering support for Trump.
“This will not stand,” Miller continued.
A spokesman for Vance said his hold will keep the Senate from swiftly approving Biden nominees by “unanimous consent” if nobody objects to them. All will require a floor vote, which will prolong the time it takes for their approval.
Vance spokesman Will Martin said the hold won’t apply to individuals nominated to the U.S. Marshals Service, or judges, but it will apply to Biden’s nomination of veteran prosecutor Becky Lutzko to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio. Lutzko has been sworn in to serve in the job on an interim basis.
He noted that Alabama Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville is holding up Defense Department nominees because of their use of taxpayer funding for abortion.
Sabrina Eaton writes about the federal government and politics in Washington, D.C., for cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
