The Hound | July 16

Hi there,

It’s Thursday. Yesterday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified before the Senate on how he’d be the most loyal Attorney General to Trump as possible — saying on the blanket pardons for insurrectionists that, “I don’t question President Trump’s authority.” More than 1,200 former Department of Justice employees have signed a letter urging the Senate to reject Todd Blanche's nomination as attorney general, saying he has "utterly failed" his constitutional oath.

🖊️ Sign the petition to call on the media to cover Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing not as a routine Senate proceeding, but as what over a thousand of his own former colleagues say it is: a test of whether the United States will permanently install a president's personal fixer at the head of the nation's top law enforcement agency.

Blanche fired career prosecutors and FBI agents to satisfy Trump's political vendettas, argued openly that Trump has a "right" to shape federal investigations, engineered a $1.8 billion taxpayer slush fund that a federal judge just declared illegitimate, and has been referred to his state bar for possible disciplinary proceedings as a result. The public deserves reporting that treats this nomination with the gravity it demands.

In addition, the U.S. reimposed the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as the Iran War is back on—in retaliation, Iran threatened to halt all energy exports from the region. And,

Read about these, and more, with today’s stories:

Hundreds of Todd Blanche’s Ex-Colleagues Say He’d Be a Terrible A.G. (The New Republic)

U.S. reimposes blockade and steps up strikes as Iran threatens to halt all energy exports from the region (PBS)

ICE Orders an End to Vehicle Stops After Deadly Shootings by Federal Agents (The Intecept)

“Fighting Back”: Mahmoud Khalil Sues Trump Admin, Pro-Israel Groups for Conspiracy to Suppress Speech (Democracy Now!)

Ebola is spreading faster in eastern Congo than it can be tracked, as deaths pass 700 (NPR)

This Private School Had Students Scrub Floors and Attack a Fellow Classmate. The State Still Funds It. (ProPublica)

Until next time,

Harry from The Hound

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