2026年7月12日 美国东部时间7:00 / 福克斯新闻
签署该信件的包括前芝加哥市长洛里·莱特福特、J6特别检察官杰克·史密斯的高级副手等人
作者：彼得·达布罗斯卡 福克斯新闻
代理司法部长托德·布兰切计划在国会山作证，届时他可能会面临有关备受关注案件的质询。其中包括针对前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米的第二项起诉，该起诉由他在Instagram上发布的“86 47”帖子引发。预计民主党人将批评布兰切的行事风格，以及司法部在他领导下的工作方向。
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华盛顿特区的资深政客们在参议院关键的确认听证会前本周迅速采取行动，试图阻止唐纳德·特朗普总统提名的司法部长人选上任。
约1200名司法部（DOJ）前雇员周二签署了一封致参议院司法委员会高层领导人的信件，要求他们否决提拔代理司法部长托德·布兰切的提议，布兰切将于7月15日和16日参加确认听证会。
布兰切此前曾担任前司法部长帕姆·邦迪的副手，现已被第47任总统提名正式出任该职位，这让前官僚们陷入了狂热。
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特朗普称他将提名代理司法部长托德·布兰奇永久领导司法部
这封试图阻挠提名流程的信件签署者自称是来自共和党和民主党政府的前司法部雇员，这一点属实。但只要粗略查看部分名字，就能看出这封信真正的极端党派性质。
以下是部分签名者：
- 洛里·莱特福特，前芝加哥市长，长期反特朗普言论记录的极左翼民主党人。
- JP·库尼，前检察官、民主党国会候选人，在杰克·史密斯针对特朗普总统的特别检察官调查中担任史密斯的高级副手，该调查后续的刑事指控均被撤销。他在竞选活动中宣称自己“毕生都在挺身而出对抗有权势者并追究他们的责任，包括唐纳德·特朗普”。
- 亚伦·泽林斯基，曾在“通俄门”调查中担任前联邦调查局局长罗伯特·米勒的助理特别检察官，而现有证据表明，“通俄门”是奥巴马时代“制造”的情报造假行动，旨在抹黑特朗普。
- 罗伯特·图卡瓦奇，曾在新泽西州以民主党身份参选国会议员。
- 萨拉·泽德布，曾担任伊利诺伊州民主党参议员迪克·德宾的首席监督法律顾问。德宾目前是参议院司法委员会的资深议员。
- 坎迪斯·库克，前司法部首席多元化与包容性官员。
- 萨姆·巴根斯托斯，拜登和奥巴马政府时期的政治任命官员，长期批评特朗普，并在其密歇根大学法学院的个人简介页面上炫耀自己的进步主义资质。
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- 阿瑟·乔廷，民主党事业捐赠者，曾指责司法部撤销对前特朗普国家安全顾问迈克尔·弗林的指控，弗林也被卷入了备受质疑的“通俄门”调查。
- 洛里·亚当斯，2021年至2025年期间担任进步主义移民法官，经手661起庇护案件，其中590起案件的庇护申请者获得了救济。她还曾反对特朗普针对非法移民的“留在墨西哥”政策。
- 特里·贝恩，民主党捐赠者、前移民法官，在其任职的法庭上为多达8113名移民提供了救济。
曝光的司法部邮件揭露拜登时代敦促镇压家长的备忘录引发的混乱
“这份名单是党派活动家的名人录，包括前芝加哥市长洛里·莱特福特——她在任期间犯罪率大幅上升——特朗普弹劾证人帕梅拉·卡尔兰，以及多名心怀不满的前拜登政府官员，其中一些人直接参与了司法部的政治武器化，”司法部发言人在接受福克斯新闻数字频道采访时谈及这封信时表示。
一名前白宫官员打趣道：“看起来他们是在MS NOW的休息室里传阅请愿书的。”
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特朗普政府的司法部表示，布兰切得到了执法界的支持。
“全国各地的执法部门都支持代理司法部长布兰奇的提名，包括代表美国数十个主要城市警务领导层的大城市警长协会、代表全球数万执法领袖的国际警察局长协会，以及代表美国数百个最大县警长办公室的美国主要县警长协会，”这位发言人说。
这封信本身称，作为前司法部雇员，签署者认真对待他们“支持和捍卫宪法，而非白宫现任主人”的誓言。
信件抱怨称，布兰奇解雇了数百名司法部雇员，他们中的一些人据称是因为“参与了总统不喜欢的案件”而被解雇。
“布兰奇对司法部非政治化 workforce 的攻击所造成的影响，不仅限于主司法部大楼的走廊，而是波及整个国家，”信中写道。“这意味着该部门许多至关重要的工作没有完成，或者没有做好——导致社区安全感下降，美国民众的权利得不到充分保护，我们的国家安全更加脆弱。”
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但这封信让人不禁想起另一起被广泛报道的闹剧，最终被证实是2020年大选期间为保护时任总统候选人乔·拜登而策划的政治操作。
当时，51名前情报官员，包括知名的特朗普对手、前国家情报总监詹姆斯·克拉珀和前中央情报局局长约翰·布伦南，联名致信公众，称亨特·拜登的电脑丑闻似乎是外国情报行动。
2020年10月由《纽约邮报》披露的亨特·拜登个人电脑内容，包含了令人震惊的吸毒视频、不雅性行为照片以及敏感的商业通信。由于给拜登竞选团队带来了公关噩梦，这台电脑最终被称为“地狱笔记本电脑”。
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这些前情报官员立即为拜登辩护，称这封信“具有俄罗斯情报行动的所有典型特征”。
“这类行动符合俄罗斯多年来干涉我们民主的一些关键手段——（通过网络行动）黑客攻击、发布准确信息或传播不准确或虚假信息，”信中写道。
主流新闻媒体纷纷跟风报道这封信，淡化了这一丑闻。
到2022年初，在联邦调查人员展开调查后，这些同样的新闻机构中的许多被迫报道称，电脑中的电子邮件和文件确实是真实的。
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克拉珀是少数几位为这封虚假的俄罗斯情报声明辩护的签名者之一，但他坚持这封信的立场，称这些前情报人士从未明确表示这台电脑是俄罗斯的行动。
“是的，我坚持当时发表的声明，并想提请大家注意第五段，”他告诉《纽约邮报》。“我认为当时发出这样的警告是恰当的。”
因此，最新的行动似乎只是民主党人用来推动反特朗普议程的同一套伎俩的重演。
彼得·达布罗斯卡是福克斯新闻数字频道的政治记者。
Democrat politicos rerun underhanded leftist playbook in effort to torpedo Trump’s AG nominee
July 12, 2026 7:00am EDT / Fox News
Signatories include former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, J6 special counsel Jack Smith’s top deputy and others
By Peter D’Abrosca Fox News
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill, where he is likely to face questions about high-profile cases. This includes the second indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, sparked by his Instagram post ’86 47′. Democrats are expected to criticize Blanche’s conduct and the Department of Justice’s direction under his leadership.
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Washington D.C.’s entrenched politicos sprang into action this week before key confirmation hearings in the U.S. Senate to try and sink President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general.
Roughly 1,200 Department of Justice (DOJ) alumni signed off on a letter on Tuesday sent to high-ranking Senate Judiciary Committee leaders demanding they reject elevating Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as he prepares for confirmation hearings next week on July 15 and 16.
Blanche, who previously served as former AG Pam Bondi’s No. 2, has been tapped by the 47th president to do the job permanently, sending the former bureaucrats into a frenzy.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks as FBI director Kash Patel listens during a news conference at the Department of Justice, Wednesday, July 1, 2026 in Washington.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
TRUMP SAYS HE WILL NOMINATE ACTING AG TODD BLANCHE TO PERMANENTLY LEAD JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
The signatories of the letter trying to stop the process bill themselves as former DOJ employees from Republican and Democratic administrations, which is true. But even a cursory look at some of the names reveals the letter’s true hyper-partisan nature.
Here are a few:
- Lori Lightfoot, the former mayor of Chicago and a far-left Democrat with a long history of anti-Trump rhetoric.
- JP Cooney, an ex-prosecutor and Democratic congressional candidate who served as Jack Smith’s top deputy during Smith’s special counsel investigation into President Trump over later-dismissed criminal charges. He’s running his campaign on the grounds that he “spent [his] career standing up to powerful people and holding them accountable, including Donald Trump.”
- Aaron Zelinsky, who served as Assistant Special Counsel to former FBI director Robert Mueller during Russiagate, which evidence now suggests was a “manufactured” Obama-era intelligence fabrication to smear Trump.
- Robert Turkavage, who ran for Congress as a Democrat in New Jersey.
- Sara Zdeb, who worked as Chief Oversight Counsel for Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Durbin is currently the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking member.
- Candice Cook, the former DOJ chief diversity & inclusion officer.
- Sam Bagenstos, a political appointee in both the Biden and Obama administrations with a history of bashing Trump and who also brags about his progressive bona fides on his University of Michigan Law biography page.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot joined “CNN This Morning” on Monday to discuss her fight against teachers unions during the pandemic.(Screenshot/CNN/CNNThisMorning)
- Arthur Chotin, a donor to Democratic causes who chastised the DOJ for dropping charges against former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, who was also swept up in the dubious Russiagate investigation.
- Lori Adams, a progressive immigration judge from 2021 – 2025, who worked 661 asylum cases. In 590 of those cases, the asylum seeker was granted relief. She also advocated against Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy for illegal aliens.
- Terry Bain, a Democrat donor and former immigration judge who granted relief to a staggering 8,113 immigrants before her court.
UNEARTHED DOJ EMAILS EXPOSE TURMOIL OVER BIDEN-ERA MEMO URGING CRACKDOWN ON PARENTS
“This list is a who’s who of partisan activists, including liberal politicians such as former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who saw crime drastically rise under her tenure, Trump impeachment witness Pamela Karlan, and multiple former disgruntled Biden administration officials, some of whom were directly involved in the weaponization of the Department,” a DOJ spokesperson told Fox News Digital of the letter.
A former White House official quipped that, “It looks like they passed a petition around the MS NOW green room.”
Former US special counsel Jack Smith, testifies before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into President Donald Trump, in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 22, 2026.(SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images)
The Trump DOJ says Blanche has the support of law enforcement.
“Law enforcement throughout the nation supports the nomination of Acting Attorney General Blanche, including the Major Cities Chiefs Association, representing police leadership in dozens of major U.S. cities; the International Association of Chiefs of Police, representing tens of thousands of law enforcement leaders worldwide; and the Major County Sheriffs of America, representing hundreds of the nation’s largest sheriffs’ offices,” the spokesperson said.
The letter itself states that as former DOJ employees, the signatories take seriously their “oath to support and defend the Constitution, not the occupant of the White House.”
It complains that Blanche has fired hundreds of DOJ employees, some of whom, they say, were fired for “having worked on cases the President didn’t like.”
“The consequences of Blanche’s attacks on DOJ’s apolitical workforce radiate beyond the halls of Main Justice, affecting the entire country,” the letter says. “They’ve meant that much of the department’s vital work isn’t being done, or isn’t being done as well – leaving communities less safe, Americans’ rights less protected, and our national security more vulnerable.”
FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Justice Department logo or seal showing Justice Department headquarters, known as “Main Justice,” is seen behind the podium in the Department’s headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023.(REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)
But the note is eerily reminiscent of another widely-covered stunt that turned out to be a political operation to protect then-presidential candidate Joe Biden during his 2020 election bid.
In that instance, 51 former intelligence officials, including known Trump adversaries Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan, penned a letter to the public claiming that the Hunter Biden laptop scandal appeared to be a foreign intelligence operation.
The contents of Hunter Biden’s personal computer, published in October 2020 by the New York Post, contained shocking videos and photos of drug use, lewd sex acts, and sensitive business communications. It was eventually was dubbed the “laptop from hell” due to the public relations nightmare it caused for the Biden campaign.
The former intelligence officials immediately jumped to Biden’s defense, claiming the letter had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
Hunter Biden, son of U.S. President Joe Biden, arrives to the J. Caleb Boggs Federal Building on June 6, 2024 in Wilmington, Delaware. The trial for Hunter Biden’s felony gun charges continues today with additional witnesses.(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“Such an operation would be consistent with some of the key methods Russia has used in its now multi-year operation to interfere in our democracy — the hacking (via cyber-operations) and the dumping of accurate information or the distribution of inaccurate or misinformation,” the letter said.
Mainstream news outlets ran with the letter, downplaying the scandal.
By early 2022, many of those same news outlets were forced to report that the emails and files from the laptop were, in fact, authentic after federal investigators looked into the matter.
James Clapper, former director of national intelligence, center, following a ceremony with former US President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama for the unveiling of their official White House portraits in Washington, D.C., US, on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. The portraits of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama, acquired and commissioned by the White House Historical Association, were painted by Robert McCurdy and Sharon Sprung, respectively.(Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Clapper was one of the few signatories who answered for the bogus Russian intelligence claim, but he stood by the letter, claiming the ex-intel crowd never said for sure that the laptop was a Russian operation.
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“Yes, I stand by the statement made AT THE TIME, and would call attention to its 5th paragraph,” he told The New York Post. “I think sounding such a cautionary note AT THE TIME was appropriate.”
So it appears the latest actions is just a repeat of the same playbook Democrats have been using to push their agenda against Trump.
Peter D’Abrosca is a politics reporter at Fox News Digital.