Cory Booker Loses All Composure In Committee Hearing

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey delivered another dramatic performance Tuesday as he argued against Senate approval of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate. Before the vote, Booker launched into an emotional attack on Blanche, President Donald Trump, and the Republican senators who agreed to support the nomination.

Booker first criticized Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Both senators backed Blanche after he signed a statement confirming that the proposed $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund had been eliminated.

Trump had supported the fund as a way to compensate people who were allegedly targeted unfairly by the Biden administration’s Department of Justice.

Booker was not satisfied.

“This is ridiculous! We got nothing!” he said. “No guarantees whatsoever that this slush fund still can’t go forward.”

Blanche, however, had already issued a public statement saying the May order that created the fund had been rescinded and would have no legal effect. He also said the Justice Department had never created a process for accepting claims and had not paid any money from the proposed fund.

My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions. We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order and update with regard to the May IRS settlement. The… pic.twitter.com/U6hs15kw2D

— Acting AG Todd Blanche (@DAGToddBlanche) August 3, 2026

“This Order establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund,” Blanche wrote, adding that the Justice Department had taken the same position in court.

That was apparently enough for Cornyn and Tillis. After meeting with Blanche and reviewing the signed statement, the two senators said they were satisfied that the matter had been resolved and agreed to support his nomination.

Booker then turned his attention to Trump.

“It’s not like we’re talking about a president who is a saint,” he said. “No president of the United States has been caught in tax cheating more than this one.”

To support the allegation, Booker referred to The New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting on Trump’s finances.

A Pulitzer Prize, however, does not automatically settle every political dispute involving Trump. The Times also received a Pulitzer for reporting related to allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

After a 22-month special counsel investigation, prosecutors did not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government to interfere in the election.

If Trump’s financial conduct clearly amounted to criminal tax fraud, the Biden administration’s Justice Department had ample opportunity to pursue such a case. Attorney General Merrick Garland and special counsel Jack Smith brought several cases against Trump, but tax charges were not among them.

Booker also attempted to connect Trump to Jeffrey Epstein and accused Blanche of protecting the president from scrutiny.

The Justice Department has released thousands of pages of material connected to the Epstein investigation. Those releases did not establish that Trump participated in Epstein’s crimes. The Biden Justice Department also had access to those records for four years, yet it did not bring an Epstein-related case against Trump.

Booker nevertheless argued that Blanche would serve Trump rather than the country.

“This man is not our lawyer. He’s not America’s lawyer,” Booker said. “He is about to become Trump’s sword against his adversaries and shield against any scrutiny.”

That accusation raises an obvious question about the supposedly independent leadership of previous attorneys general.

Garland’s Justice Department prosecuted Trump during an election season and also pursued cases against former Trump advisers such as Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro. The department faced additional criticism over aggressive FBI raids and prosecutions involving pro-life activists.

Sen. @CoryBooker (D-NJ) statement opposing Todd Blanche’s nomination: “He is about to become Trump’s sword against his adversaries and shield against any scrutiny.” pic.twitter.com/Hv1PaGCxVC

— CSPAN (@cspan) August 4, 2026

Former Attorney General Eric Holder also openly described himself as President Barack Obama’s “wingman.” His tenure included the Fast and Furious scandal and the controversy surrounding the IRS’s treatment of conservative organizations, yet those events did not produce the kind of outrage from Democrats that Booker displayed during Blanche’s hearing.

Booker continued by warning Republican members of the committee that they were ignoring a threat to American democracy.

“When it comes to our democracy, you’re worried about someone who is doing petty theft while there is the murder of our democratic traditions going on before our eyes,” he said. “We are in dangerous waters, folks.”

He closed with another forceful condemnation of Blanche.

“He is about Trump and not truth,” Booker said. “He is about corruption and not the Constitution. He is about being Donald Trump’s lawyer and not the people’s lawyer.”

Booker’s remarks were clearly intended to present Blanche as a partisan loyalist rather than an independent law-enforcement official. But the speech also relied heavily on disputed accusations, dramatic comparisons and standards that Democrats have not always applied to attorneys general serving presidents from their own party.

The Western Journal