Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, July 16, 2026 Non-AI Real World News

During Thursday’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for President Donald Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, current Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, former AG John Ashcroft took California Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff to school on the boundaries of executive power and Department of Justice independence.

Schiff attempted to bait Ashcroft into attacking Blanche. It did not work out well for Schiff, who Trump sometimes refers to as “pencil neck.”

“Mr. Blanche has said he believes that the president has both the right and the duty to use the Justice Department to go after his enemies. Do you subscribe to that view?” Schiff asked Ashcroft.

Ashcroft, who served as U.S. Attorney General from 2001 to 2005, responded: “I believe that the Attorney General of the United States has the right and responsibility to enforce the law uniformly, and if the law has been broken by the President’s ‘enemies,’ he has a duty.

“They do not become exempt from following the law merely by their enmity to the president of the United States. As a matter of fact, the people who break the law are in enmity with the people of the United States, whose expression of what is the law has been developed in this body and the Congress of the United States, so we used to call people who break the law, ‘public enemies.’

“So my view is that whether a person has been a political supporter or not of the President of the United States is NOT the determining factor regarding prosecution. It’s whether a person has violated the law and in enforcing the law, the Attorney General is carrying out the will expressed in the Congress.”

Blanche’s confirmation is not guaranteed even though Republicans control the Senate.

Two Senate Judiciary Committee “Republicans,” one who lost his primary and one who is retiring, said on Thursday they remained undecided on Blanche’s nomination.

“I am still considering it,” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, told MS NOW.

Cornyn is one of 11 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, which also includes 10 Democrats. Republicans lost a member when Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina died unexpectedly last weekend.

Cornyn is set to leave the Senate in early January, having been thoroughly trounced in May’s Republican Senate primary by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Another Republican on the committee, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said during the second day of hearings on Thursday that he wants Blanche to meet with victims of Jeffrey Epstein before voting on his confirmation.

After Tillis’ comments, Blanche scheduled a meeting with Epstein victims at the Department of Justice. A group of four victims, along with the brother and sister-in-law of the late Virginia Giuffre, another Epstein victim, were seen entering the DOJ building.

Tillis is not seeking reelection this year.

Freedom Rocks! Until It Is Gone

  Ex-AG Ashcroft explains concept of ‘public enemies’ at Todd Blanche hearing, WorldTribune.com