Morning Joe - Todd Blanche faces scrutiny ahead of Senate confirmation hearing today

Episode Date: July 15, 2026

July 15, 2026 - 6am: Todd Blanche faces scrutiny ahead of Senate confirmation hearing today Trump's big Thursday primetime speech Ossoff goes off on Trump speech Preview: Jay Clayton confirmation hearing for DNI Lisa Rubin previews Blanche confirmation hearing ICE to suspend most vehicle stops after multiple deadly shootings Rattner's charts: Inflation, gas prices hurting Americans  To listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads, sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The agents who killed the person in the domain yesterday were reportedly not using body-borne cameras. And that's despite DHS officials coming in Congress and repeatedly saying over the last few months that they want to expand body camera usage. Does there need to be accountability on DHS from Congress here? I don't know anything about this event. Okay, I was a little busy yesterday. So I'm going to reserve judgment. I know that there was a tragic shooting. And I'm not going to comment on because I don't know. And you guys can mock me for not knowing that.

I worked about 22 hours in the last few days, and I did not get the briefing on that yet. I will this morning. Yeah, you know, I'm not going to mock you for it, Mike. I'm just going to call you a liar because that's what you are. You know exactly what happened yesterday. You know what happened in Minneapolis? You understand that un-American actions are continuing to accelerate across America. While Susan Collins votes for $70 billion in ICE funding that has no reforms attached to it,

You have Americans being gunned down in the streets of Minneapolis by masked men. That's un-American. You have fathers, husbands, grandfathers being gunned down in Houston, gunned down in the street for no reason. In Biddleford, Maine, and the killers whisked away, no justice, no investigations, No real investigations allowed by local authorities who have seen their city streets being turned into killing zones. And you don't know about that, Mike? What do you know about? You know about, oh my God.

You know about $350 billion that you say is needed to fight communism in America? Do you know how dangerous you sound, Mike? I saw conservative commentators who are still conservative, unlike you. unlike the president, unlike so many other Republicans that I used to work with in Congress, saying every conservative should be afraid when a Speaker of the House says we want to use $350 billion against Americans. People that you call communists because they believe in more affordable health care. People that you call communists because they believe that billionaires and multinational corporations,

should pay their fair share in taxes. People you call communists, because the income disparity between the richest Americans and the poorest Americans continue to grow. Now, let's think now. That's real commie thinking. No, actually, it was Alan Greenspan himself

who said the greatest threat to American capitalism is income disparity. The kind of income disparity that you continue to generate are you on American, Mike? Are Republicans that continue to do what Ellen Greenspan said for a decade was the greatest risk to American democracy and American capitalism? You un-American? Are they un-American? And as far as immigrants go, I know you don't really know, because you didn't know what happened yesterday,

so you probably don't know that there was a guy named Ronald Wilson Reagan, who was the 40th president of the United States. States. And he used his farewell speech to America talking about the importance of immigrants coming to this country, like the fathers, like the sons, like the husbands, like the workers, that you're allowing to be gunned down by ice. Time and time again, in American streets. And what happens afterwards, the killers are whisked away. The killers are whisked away and they're, they're protected from justice, just like King George III would surely protect royal troops, the gunned down patriots 250 years ago. Whisk them away from the scene of the crime where the patriots are gunned down. Here, whisking these masked, federalized troops away, Willie, from the

very men who are gunned down without cause. I want to know, what does Ken Paxson think? About a Hispanic father, a Hispanic grandfather, a man who'd been in America for over 30 years, misidentified and shot to death in the street of Houston. What does Ken Paxson think about that? What does Susan Conson? I'm sure she's disturbed. Or what's her? word? What's her word? What she say? I'm concerned. Maybe it's concerned. I'm sure she's concerned. I would be concerned. About what

happened in the streets of Maine? A sweet, kind young man that community member said was so kind, so loving. Getting gunned down in front of his

little girl. Through a car window in front of his family? Where's that killed? What justice for that killer? What justice for that killer? What justice for the men and women who continue to let American streets turn into killing zones?

Communists? They're worried about, maybe they shouldn't be worried about fascists. There he is. There's a young man being remembered. The young father. He had two jobs. The young worker? Look at that face. That is the face of a man who typifies what Ronald Reagan said, his last night in the White House. It is men like this that will keep America forever young, forever growing, forever American. You can go to France.

and you'll never be called a Frenchman, Reagan said. You can go to Turkey or Germany, and you will never be Turkish or a German. But you come to America, and you will become an American. And Willie, according to the New York Times, this 25-year-old young man, a young father, was left dead in the street with his wife weeping next to his body. His three-year-old girl saw the whole thing happen, traumatized for life. They lived in an apartment building. He worked as a door jast driver and cleaned a veterinary center at night. He held two jobs. He was seen in the community as someone who was so kind. The whole family was seen as so kind. And all of a sudden, this happens to them for no reason, it appears. And according to his father, he had legal status to work in America. And from all the reports we've heard, So far, Willie, he was not the intended target of ICE.

Well, that's the important point. They shot the wrong person. They killed the wrong person again, again, because he got into a car that they thought was the car that belonged to someone that kind of looked like him, maybe, or whatever the reason was. Again, shooting into a car, which violates every protocol of every well-trained police officer at any police department in the United States. That should be obvious.

And to your point, Joe, about Susan Collins, when she voted for the $70 billion, as you just pointed out, to support this operation that we watched again two days ago in Maine and the week before in Houston have deadly consequences, she said, I voted for it, but here's what I got out of it. Body cameras and real investigations when bad things happen. Well, no body cameras again in the case of this shooting in Maine and no real investigations of any of these. took six months for federal investigators to give evidence over in Minnesota to state officials so that they could then look into it. These are not real investigations. This is not real accountability. And for Mike Johnson to say I worked a 22-hour day yesterday doing what? We don't know, sweeping up after President Trump or chasing around whatever the president's requests or whim of the day is because that seems to be his job. I guess there are going to be a lot of staff

firings in Speaker Johnson's office if they didn't brief him on this story. And again, Joe, just to go back to the core, as you bring up Ronald Reagan principle, that conservatives have talked about since I can remember, which is the idea of jackbooted thugs, as they called them around Ruby Ridge, or they called them around Waco, you know, marauding through the streets, going after people in this country. It's happening. It's happening in real time in our streets in this country. It's happening in real time in our streets, and maybe those people driving into their country clubs with don't tread on me license plates on their Maseratis, maybe they should take those off and understand that if they still support this administration and their actions, then they actually are on the side of King George III.

They actually are on the side of the people that conservatives once called jackbooted thugs after Ruby Ridge and after Waco. They are the ones that are allowing the killings to go on in the streets of America based on faulty identification and no due process. Seemingly cuffing it up. Maybe Democrats need to be the one to start flying the flag of don't tread on. me. Because that's what this administration's doing. And there are reports that tomorrow night, the president is going to speak, trying to seize this midterm election away from voters and actually trying to say that two Democratic senators elected in Georgia are there improperly, because he's got a bunch of fools,

a bunch of bumpkins around him that will tell him whatever he wants to hear. Is there any Republican on Capitol Hill that actually has the courage to do what Barry Goldwater did when he walked over to Nixon and say, Mr. President, it's over? Does anybody have the guts to tell Donald Trump?

Mr. President, do not go where you're thinking about going on elections or it will be over. Do not try. distill these elections, do not try because you think that Republicans are going to do so badly this fault, do not try to take the vote away from Americans. Because that's exactly what this president has been trying to do with the Save Act that would actually take away the vote. 45 out of 50 states, you wouldn't be able to use your driver's license. Women who got married

and changed their names might not be able to vote. You can go. You can go. down the list, trying to seize voter rolls state after state after state after state, and then saying, oh, you can't get mail-in ballots if you aren't in a state that allows the federalization of voting. This is all about the federalization, the federalization of policing, the federalization of killing, the federalization of voting, the federalization of everything. And by the way, I just have to say one final thing. Mike keeps talking about communism, Willie? You know, Ron Paul said yesterday, yeah, there is a real threat when it comes to communism, when it comes to socialism.

But it's not what Republicans are saying. It's actually coming from Republicans. Here, here the preeminent libertarian of our time who has warned more about socialism and communism than anybody else is saying, that the Republicans' seizing of private industry, like Intel, is the greatest socialist threat that we face as Americans. That was an extraordinary piece by Ron Paul, who obviously has the credentials to back up what he's talking about saying. You want socialism, you've got it in the Trump administration.

Basically, he calls it corporatism or state capitalism, where the government takes a stake in these companies and then has a say. That's not capitalism, Ron Paul points out. has a say in how these companies operate and dictates what happens to consumers. There's a lot swirling around this morning, fair to say. Yep. And it's all connected. Back to Maine. And what happened, the Trump administration is now suspending most vehicle stops by ICE agents following two deadly shootings within a week.

That is according to the Associated Press, who spoke with people familiar with that decision yesterday. The AP reports the suspension of vehicle stops allows, room for exceptions when executing a criminal warrant or working with partner agencies. Protests were held in Maine yesterday over the killing of Joanne Sebastian Guerrero, a 25-year-old Columbia National who had legal status to work in America, according to his father. The shooting marked at least the ninth time ICE has used deadly force since Trump began his immigration crackdown. Remember, he said he would go after the worst of the worst this morning? There are still questions about what led up to the shooting of the father of a three-year-old girl. According to

neighbors and public wreckers, Guerrero lived about 150 feet from where his car came to arrest outside an apartment building. Video from a nearby pawn shop and laundromat shows Guerrero's white Kia moving into an intersection with two agents on foot near the car, the moving car. The vehicle turns and does a series of slow circles, while the agents try to open the driver's door. After about a minute of circling, an ICE SUV pulls into the intersection and eventually stops the vehicle. We want to warn you about the next video as it is graphic showing the aftermath of this interaction. You can see the agents open the car door and pull Guerrero out of the car and onto the ground.

He does not appear to be moving at this point. It's not clear from this surveillance video when the shots were fired, but images from the scene show four bullet holes through the front windshield of the car. Maine's Attorney General's office, which said it's working with federal agencies to investigate, said initial statements, suggest the driver was trying to flee in the direction of the officer whose name has not been released and who was placed on leave. Bordersar, Tom Homan, was asked about the policy change for ICE during an interview with Fox News. That decision was made by the secretary along with leadership at ICE. But look, it's not a policy change. It's a temporary pause. Look, the last couple of shootings, ICE leadership along with DHS,

believes they want to look at these last a couple of incidents and look. Is there something that could have been done better? Is there any training to get me improved? Or it's simply, ICE doing a job and bad things happen when people don't comply with law enforcement officers. So I think it's going to be a short

pause, and I'm confident that ICE is well trained. The vehicle stops, and you're going to see us keep moving forward. But this is just a temporary pause where they look at the incidents. But let me say this, too. I hear a lot of noise right now. this will affect ICE arrest. And it's not going to.

Yeah, you know, Tom Holman knows better. Let's bring in right now, co-host for 8 a.m. hour, staff writer at the length, Jonathan Lear, MS Now, National Affairs analyst, John Heilman, he's partner, political columnist and also MS now senior legal reporter Lisa Rubin. John Lemeser, first of all, Holman knows better. He knows that these idiots who keep killing people, shooting into cars, are doing something that the NYPD would never do, something that the LAPD, something that every police agency would never do. They aren't trained. He lied when he said that they're trained in vehicle something.

No, they're not. Or you wouldn't keep killing innocent people. And that's exactly what they're doing, the killing innocent people. You know, this is something we talked about, John, just a couple of days ago after the killing in Ken Paxton's home state. I wonder what Ken's going to say about that. The killing of a father and a husband. We said this was a White House that was supposed to have their act together on this. They understood that they had given Stephen Miller far too much latitude, that they had to stop these killings from happening.

This is after Minneapolis. This is after Minneapolis. They went to Republicans. and said stop using the term mass deportation. It's killing us in the polling. The killings have started up again. Misidentified two fathers, two husbands, and shot them dead for no reason at all. And now we'll see, Susan Collins, please, body cam, please, Susan. Stop lying to Americans. giving the money. Talking about the investigation. What investigation, Susan? You said there would be investigations. Where are the investigation, Susan? I don't see it. It's your state. Young fathers and

husbands are being shot, gunned down in the streets of your state, Susan. Where's the investigation? When's the investigation going to come? When's the justice going to come? That's the question, John. Because it sure as hell hasn't started in Minneapolis. We still have no justice for Renee Good. Are Alex Pretty? American citizens gunned down? Alex Pretty, it looked like he was gunned down, execution style. And still no justice.

Is Susan going to allow that to happen in Maine? Of course she is. Because she's afraid to stand up to the president. She's afraid to stand up to King George III. She's afraid to stand up to the mask. the gunmen, the federalized troops who are treading on Mainers every day, who are treading on Texans every single day, John. It is so un-American in everything that conservatives, true conservatives have been against for decades, everything that Ronald Reagan was against, everything,

that people like Russell Kirk, we're against. It is so frightening what they are doing. They are federalizing this type of killing. They are federalizing corporations like Intel, and they're now talking about federalizing elections and federalizing the Pentagon policing America with $350 billion. That all just happened yesterday, by the way.

That just happened yesterday. And it continues. And it accelerates as we move toward these midterm elections. What are they so afraid of? That's what I want to know, John. What are they so afraid of? All those warnings, they're here. This is what people were afraid of in terms of the President Trump,

his team, using the power of the federal government for, you know, to, as you say, to federalize various aspects of American life to maintain their hold on power. that's where we are. The signs are there. First of all, you're right. It's been six months since those shootings in Minneapolis. There's still no real cooperation, the federal government, not helping state and local enforcement with their investigations. I was so struck there by Tom Homan, the Borders'ar, who, remember, when he was appointed, was praised by many as a more reasonable voice at the head at the face of these deportation programs, then Christy Knoem, the then-Secretary, or even Stephen Miller. But yet, you know, he said, well, I'm quoting him here. Bad things

happen when people don't listen to law enforcement and made it very clear that this is a pause, he believes, in the policy. I covered the NYPD for a number of years of the New York Daily News. Officers are trained to not stand in front of moving cars and shoot in moving cars unless it is an absolutely matter of life or death. We've seen no evidence that that was the case. We talked about that when it happened in Minnesota. It certainly seems to be the case again with these latest incidents. And this administration, Joe, despite their claims that they recognized as a political loser in the wake of Minneapolis.

At the end of the day, it is Trump and his team's reflexive move to go back to immigration, to go back to deportations, to go back to that hard line stance. They think that thrills the base. They want to get those numbers

back up. They've run out of cards. Nothing else seems to be working for them. The economy, the war, the list goes on and on. I fail to see how this will help them in general elections in November, but this has been the move over and over.

And you're right. It's certainly not going to make life easier for those candidates in places like Texas and in Maine, Susan Collins, and other states too, to have to try to defend these policies where we have seen yet again people gunned down in the streets of American cities by federal law enforcement officers. It's unbelievable. And what has happened in Houston and in Maine and also what's going on in Washington, it's all connected. We're going to continue this conversation after a short break.

We'll bring in John Heilman and Lisa Rubin and also cover. for the confirmation hearing of Todd Blanche today. We'll be right back with much more. Morning Joe. You've heard the president talk about how he wants to effectively double the funding for national defense. Look, we live in dangerous times. We're fighting communism on our own shores, and we're fighting evil terrorists and tyrants around the world. And we have to be able to protect our national security. We're fighting communism on our own shores. That was the comments from Speaker Mike Johnson. Joe was referencing at the top of the show.

saying Congress needs to approve $350 billion in new spending for the Pentagon on top of a budget that's already over a trillion dollars at the moment, in part because he says of threats of communism here at home in the United States. John Howman, a lot to sift through there. Speaker Johnson talking about communism here. Tackle that if you want to, but also this larger question of Republicans completely playing dumb or looking the other way, including I would add to the list, Governor Abbott in Texas and the guy who wants to be the senator in Texas. as Attorney General Ken Paxton there, really having nothing to say about the death of the man in Houston last week or in Maine in the case of Speaker Johnson this week. Yeah, Willie, there's, well, you say a lot to impact there.

I think, you know, the pattern of Republicans enabling President Trump being silent, abdicating their responsibilities, their institutional responsibilities in the Senate, the responsibilities to their voters and in its case of individual governors. This is nothing new. What I think is most important politically, and I just want to try to narrow this, because there's so many objections that we file to, that we raise to all of these things. They're moral objections. There's objections on policy, but just the political issue, the thing to focus on here, it's really highlighted in these cases, because here. you have two of the most important Senate races in the United States, the Senate race in Maine, the Senate race in Texas, two races where Susan Collins, someone who's demonstrated a remarkable

degree of electoral resilience over the years, and there's been chaos on the Democratic side, someone in Ken Paxton, who has not had the record of resilience that Susan Collins has had, but who, despite all of his scandals, there's polling that shows him either slightly ahead or running neck and neck with James Tolarico, Texas, a fundamentally red state. These are states where those two candidates would rather be talking about almost anything other than what the president's going to be talking about

on television tomorrow night, re-raising the questions of totally ungrounded claims of election fraud in 2020, whatever the big news is that Donald Trump says he's going to break. That is a number. nightmare for Susan Collins. That's a nightmare for Ken Paxton. The voters in those states do not want to be talking about that. And then in those two states, these obviously absolutely outrageous ice killings just in the last couple of days, an issue that had had bedeviled the Republican Party

in the period of time through Minneapolis that seemed to have receded for a little while. And now is back on the front pages, particularly if you think about the dynamics in Texas, where Ken Paxton, if he's, if there's vulnerability around that seat, it has to do with the possibility James Tolariko is going to wipe away all the gains that Donald Trump made with Hispanic voters in Texas. The ice slings makes the president's party vulnerable in those things again. I can tell you, Ken Paxton and Susan Collins, the last two things they want to be talking about is mass deportation and ICE on one hand, an election of fraud on the other hand, if they have any hope of winning those Senate seats. those are the two things that are in the headlines right now in Texas, in Maine, and all across the

country. It is Donald Trump bringing again to Republicans a political nightmare heading into November. And both of those topics may come up in just a few hours, will come up when President Trump's former personal lawyer and the current acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, is set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing to make that AG role permanent. Blanche expected to face scrutiny over issues, including his personal relationship, with President Trump, the department's investigations into Trump's perceived political enemies to deal to settle Trump's IRS lawsuit and the DOJ's handling of the Epstein file. So Lisa Rubin, there's so much here.

I mean, let's just remind our viewers, Todd Blanche was President Trump's personal attorney. And now he wants to lead the Justice Department in a permanent role on the Stormy Daniels case, on the classified documents. He was involved, 2020 election interference. And now add to that January 6th, the Epstein files. the scrapped anti-weaponization fund, as they called it. And most recently, we've had a court case this week where a federal judge basically told Blanche that he'd not acted independently around this IRS lawsuit.

So with all that in mind, what will you be looking for today? It should be quite a hearing. I'll be looking also to hear if senators asked Todd Blanche about some of the charging decisions of the Department of Justice. So in between being President Trump's personal attorney and being the acting attorney, and being the acting attorney general. Since March of 2025, Todd Blanche has been the deputy attorney general, a Senate confirmed position.

And in that capacity, the DAG, as it's called, is the person who oversees all criminal prosecutions, Willie, at the Department of Justice. That means that Todd Blanche likely had a role and almost certainly had a role in certain prosecutions brought by the department. Why do I say certainly? Because it's department policy that when you bring charges against people who are either current or former public officials and all likelihood in the law. The policy says the DAG should have approval of those matters.

What matters am I referring to? Well, let's start with the indictments of both Letitia James and James Comey. And with respect to Comey in particular, I did some reporting over the last week where I reached out to 80 different alumni of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. That's where Todd Blanche was a career prosecutor for eight years. And was a respected guy. Was not only a respected guy. I'd go further than that.

He was adored. Todd Blanche was the homecoming king of the SDNY. Everybody loved the guy. And that's why 116 of his former colleagues signed a letter supporting him when he was first nominated. Those are people of all political stripes. But when you talk to some of those people today, and the response rate, I will admit, is low because there are some real fear out in the community. You talk to them, what about, you know, would you still support Todd Blanche if there were such a letter? By the way, there is not.

But people will tell you, no, I would not. And many people said to me the one through line was the Comey prosecutions, and in particular, the recent indictment of Jim Comey on what we call the Seashells case, this 8647 spelled out in Seashells on a North Carolina beach. Why did they say that? One person said to me, Todd knows that Jim was not threatening to kill the president and that he would stand there at the podium of the U.S. Department of Justice and tout that case is absolutely absurd. look for senators to really hone in on those and other politically motivated investigations, prosecutions, Adam Schiff, Lisa Cook, the list goes on and on. You know, Lisa, I'm sorry, I'm sure I wasn't the only one who spilled my coffee when you said Todd Blanche was adored.

Like, this is so telling on how people will take an extraordinary reputation and destroy it, even if that means improperly going after other public servants and trying to prosecute them. Could you just underline that for everybody? Because they spilled the coffee. They're wiping it off right now. And I think they just, they said, here you go, honey. I'm sorry.

Thank you for helping me clean it up. Now let's look at Morning Joe again. So here you go. Explain. Go into detail how this is a guy who is respected and revered until he completely compromised his values with political prosecutions. Well, Joe, I want to be clear, there are still people from that community, former prosecutors here in Manhattan, who are partial to Todd Blanche. Two of them talk to me. But what you hear from them is not a full-throated defense. the administration's policies or agenda, what you hear is somebody's got to be the attorney general for this president. And of all the people who could plausibly be picked, the person I would trust most, the person I would say is best amongst them, is Todd Blanche because he is a person of substance.

He is a person of experience. He was a person I knew to be one of integrity. And to the extent that anyone is going to push back in that room with President Trump, I trust that Todd will be that person. But let's go back to sort of why Todd Blanche was so loved. I will tell you and our viewers, I also knew Todd Blanche briefly when I was in private practice before I came here to MS now. So I witnessed the adoration firsthand. Todd Blanche was liked for so many reasons, including the fact that he was a regular guy. He was the paradigmatic lawyer that jurors would want to have a beer with. And that was a feeling shared throughout the community of SDNY lawyers and a alums. He was always smiling. He was always gregarious. He always had an outstretched hand. And even now,

a person that I interviewed for my piece who would not say, would not say whether he would still sign a letter, that person said to me, Todd is a wonderful person. Even the people who no longer support him will tell you he is a fundamentally fun, nice guy. So the guy that I see on our screens all the time, sort of growling from the podium at the Department of Justice, that is entirely inconsistent with the person that I briefly knew and also the person my sources described to me. Yeah, and John Limer, a regular guy, as we would say at the University of Alabama, a paradigmatic example. What does that word even mean, Lisa? What is paradigmatic example mean? We can have a vocabulary lesson again later.

Paradigmatic. Okay. We get it. I got it. That's good. I like that one. Can you write that down? I'll write it down. I'll start using it in the way next time. Spill them the coffee again. Oh, Alabama runs off. So would I be using the word right here? Alabama runs off tackle for six yards first down.

That is a paradigmatic example of what Bear Bryant would have done in that same exact. Did I use the word right? Yeah. Yeah. Boom. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's best we can. All right, John.

Lamere. I pass it along to you for. Lessons in English. I'm going to stay away from the lengthy vocabulary words. But John Howman, let's talk about the politics here. We mentioned Susan Collins. A couple times already on this show. You know, she has said she has not decided yet what to do here on the nomination of acting attorney general Blanche.

Other Republicans also have said they'll have the wait and see approach. We know how this usually works with one or two exceptions. They tend to just follow with the White House once. But as Lisa outlined, there's no short. of inflammatory decisions for Blanche to be asked about. And, of course, hovering over all of this, I might say, is the Jeffrey Epstein matter, including the Democrats have said they're going to have an Epstein survivor we called as a witness.

And there's going to be questions about the trip that Blanche, Todd Blanche himself made to talk to Galane Maxwell. There's a lot of questions, John. And these are the kind of thing where this is in a normal Senate, a Senate that in any past administration we've ever watched and covered, there'd be no question that Todd Blanche would be unconfirmable. There's so much controversy around him and so many things that would have crossed so many red lines for Republicans and Democrats alike in previous administrations.

What we've seen, of course, I alluded to this earlier, which is the total abdication of advising consent by the Senate under Donald Trump and Trump 2.0 suggests, again, if you go back to the standard of the early days of the administration, that Todd Blanche would clearly be confirmed. So the question really is a matter now of what exactly has changed in the 17 months of Trump 2.0 and the political environment around that in specifically how it's affected a handful of key Republican senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee. If Todd Blanche's confirmation gets out of the Judiciary Committee and onto the Senate floor, I don't have any doubt that that will then, he will then be confirmed. I would be my guess, I'm not guaranteeing that,

but I think there's a high probability of that. But you have three Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee in the persons of Tom Tillis, John Corny, and John Kennedy, all of whom have are, say they're undecided, and all of whom have raised specific concerns about Todd Blanche. We are in a different world because Tom Tillis is leaving the Senate, because John Cornyn has been forced out of the Senate by essentially Donald Trump. back in Ken Paxton. And we have John Kennedy, who for other reasons, has primarily related to the Epstein files, has raised some serious concerns about Blanche.

Partly because of the fact that Lindsey Graham has passed away and left an open seat on that Senate of Judiciary Committee, all it takes is one Republican to stall that nomination in committee. And so the spotlight over these next few days is going to be on those three Republicans. Republicans and how they react to the answers that Todd Blanche gives to the questions that they ask today. And I think there's a chance, unlike at any previous point in Trump 2.0, that that is one of them. John, John, I'm confused. Because, because, I mean, I start adding up Republicans. They don't have a whole lot to lose, a lot of votes to lose. I guess, I doubt Mitch is going to

be back to vote on this. But if you start adding up, let's say it gets to the floor. You've got Murkowski. You've got Cassidy, who's angry. You've got John Kennedy, who's very disturbed for good reason about Blanche's cover-up in the Epstein files. You've got Susan Collins, who is deeply concerned. You've got John Cornyn. You've got all of these people that have no reason to carry any more water for Donald Trump, especially on a guy who is politicized justice.

who's tried to do something strange in his dealings with Galane Maxwell, it appears. A guy who's, you read regime change, he was at the center of the efforts in the situation room to cover up the Epstein files release. So why would this thing be a sure bet on the Senate floor with all of these Republicans who no longer have to bow and scrape to Donald Trump? Well, let me say, Joe, I don't want to. I'll take back the notion that anything's is sure bad at this point. My kind of my point is that the question is really, you're pointing to the thing that I'm trying

to draw attention to here, which is what has changed? Because the main reason that I have, that one would have the presumption that the nomination will succeed if it gets the floor is that we have not seen a single nomination fail on the floor thus far in Trump 2.0. So until there's been an example in which there's ever happened before, I'm skeptical it will happen now. And so many times in the past, when we pointed to many good substantive and political reasons to think that something that Donald Trump wants would not happen. The Senate Republicans would stand up to Donald Trump. They have not done that. And so I'll believe it when I see it. However, your point about that what's changed here in the dynamics is that

Donald Trump has, we are closer to, A, we are so much closer to these midterm elections. B, there's so much Republican vulnerability. And C, Donald Trump has done so much to engender hurt feelings among various Republicans and to undermine the sense of loyalty and reflexive loyalty that they felt towards him in the past. So maybe this time will be different. This could be the testing of exactly that. But I think that the place where it's more likely to fail is more likely to fail in that, in that judiciary committee where it takes so little to keep Ken Paxton from moving from advancing

to the floor. And all it takes is one Republican at this point deciding to go against him. And the thing ends up not making it to the floor at all. And guys, just to put a fine point on this, the Epstein files and the bungled release and the cover-up of the Epstein files has been a red line we've heard for Republicans, for supporters of President Trump, for conservatives, for podcasters. This has been a foundational issue. And so we'll get a test here in the next couple of days of do you really mean that? Because Pam Bondi, for one, the former Attorney General on her way out the door, made it known to anyone who would listen, including members of Congress.

That was Todd Blanche's portfolio. He's the reason the Epstein files have not been released on the direction of President Trump. So do they mean it? Are the Epstein files? Are you really appalled and disgusted as you should be by what's inside? Is it really a red line? we're about to find out. Also happening today, the confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton, President Trump's pick to be

the next director of national intelligence will take place before the Senate Intel Committee. A lot going on. Clayton's hearing was initially scheduled for last month, but Trump abruptly delayed his nomination in an effort to get the Senate to first pass his controversial Save America Act. Both Democrats and Republicans appeared eager to confirm Clayton at the time, having expressed major concerns with acting DNI, Bill Pulte, who has no prior intelligence, national security, or defense experience, and who is reportedly behind President Trump's continued baseless 2020 election fraud claims. There's a lot to watch here. We will also note that Jay Clayton was responsible for issuing subpoenas last week to several New York Times. journalists who had reported on security concerns involving Trump's new Air Force One. MS now senior legal reporter Lisa Rubin, thank you very much. A lot to cover.

Thank you, Lisa. New piece is available to read online right now at MS. dot now. And John Howman, thank you as well. We'll see you soon. Coming up on Morning Joe, Steve Ratner, standing by with charts. He's looking at inflation, gas prices, and much more. He joins us straight ahead on Morning Joe. While I reviewed the data that came out this morning on CPI, and it was a positive relative to expectations, I'm not for cherry picking.

I'm not going to show up here and say mission accomplished. And what I'd say is there's plenty of work to do. All right, that was Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh, testifying yesterday before the House Financial Services Committee. His comments coming after the release of a better than expected inflation report. Let's bring in former Treasury official and morning Joe economic analyst. Steve Ratner, who has charts on yesterday's inflation data and oil prices, and there's a lot to cover. Yeah, Steve, really quickly before you get into all of this, Kevin Orsch was a deficit hawk in previous incarnations. Then when President Trump wanted him to come on board, he started sounding more like a dove.

but is there reason to believe right now that sort of that hawk that he's always been, a man who understands that the last thing you want is inflation, kind of getting out of the barn door? Is that who he is again? Yeah, I think so, Joe. I think he was very clear in his testimony, and I've been talking to some other Fed officials who say the same thing, which is that basically the Fed remains completely committed to getting back to 2% inflation. which is not nearly where we are at the moment, and that is going to mean higher interest rates,

probably not at their meeting in July, but later this year. That's what the market is now expecting. It's flipped from before the war. We thought interest rates were going to keep coming down. Now we think they're going to go up a bit in the course of this year, and the Fed remains committed to 2%. So, yes, I agree with you.

All right, let's go to your charts. The first one, looking at inflation and how it's impacting workers, Steve. Right. So here's the point. We did get a somewhat better than expected inflation reading, as the chairman said yesterday. But to Joe's point, inflation is still running three and a half percent above where it was last year, obviously largely because of oil prices on the war, but nonetheless, that's where it is. The other piece of good news in the number was that wages are also up three and a half percent. So essentially for the first time since the war started, consumers are not losing more ground, but they do. remain underwater, so to speak, relative to where they were before the war in terms of purchasing power. Now, obviously, not all consumers are the same. We have, obviously, people at higher and lower incomes. And so the effect of this is different. And so here's a little data point to show you how it works kind of in the real world. This is a study by the New York Fed on gasoline purchases.

And what it shows is that for higher, lower, and middle income people, gasoline purchases have been fairly tight and constant until you had the Iran war started. And then there's been a divergence here where high-income Americans have maintained their, roughly their level of gas purchases. They've essentially absorbed the higher prices, whereas middle and lower-income families have had to cut back on their gas purchases. They've had to carpool more, take public transit, or otherwise simply just not use their car quite as much. So an average, but definitely different impacts. Steve, let's talk more specifically in your second chart about gas prices and why they are still up. They have ticked down since the beginning of the war since that $450 a gallon, but still way higher than they were before the war began.

Yeah, there's an expression. Economists sometimes use up like a rocket, down like a feather in terms of how prices can move. So again, you can see gas prices quite closely tracking oil prices from before the war and even during much of the war as we got to this peak of $4.5 in gas prices. Now crude oil prices came down all the way back to where they were at $1.72 a barrel. Now they're at 85, but gas never got all the way back down there. Part of it is the reason that I said that simply retailers of gasoline are trying not to lower their prices, as probably most businessmen were trying not to do. But also you've had refinery disruptions and other supply disruptions that have affected

refined products like gasoline more than crude oil. But nonetheless, as you know, the U.S. is an oil. exporter. We actually produce more oil than we use. And so higher oil prices do benefit our oil companies. And you can see here the impact. This is an index of oil companies, U.S. oil companies. You can see their stock prices are up almost 28% this year. They're making a lot more money from higher crude oil and higher gasoline prices. This is the S&P up 9.6%. This is the famous Magnificent 7. The Medas and Googles and so forth of the world up 2.7. And these are wages up 1.3%. So in terms of winners and losers from all this, I think the record is pretty clear.

Steve, as you move to your third chart, we'll tell our viewers, the United States military now has reimposed that naval blockade of ships traveling to and from Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade had been lifted last month after the memorandum of understanding was signed, but now back on again as fighting flares. Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened yesterday to halt all energy. exports from the Middle East over that reinstated blockade. President Trump initially had said he also would impose a 20 percent toll on ships passing through the strait in exchange for providing security, but he walked that back just yesterday, claiming fees will instead be replaced by investments from Gulf allies. So Steve, how does all this back and forth, this chaos, this uncertainty affect oil prices and how they're people who work in this business project where those prices?

will be. Yeah, so as we talked about, Willie, oil prices are the fundamental ingredient that has been driving our inflation and therefore, obviously, what is going on in the Strait of Ramos where at 1.20% of the world's oil passed is very important. So let's put this in a little bit of very recent historical context and look at the Strait of Hermuz. Before the war, 60-70 ships a day passed through the strait. Then it went essentially to zero. But interestingly, even during the MOU, when we were theoretically, the strait was open and we were kind of a quote piece, if you will, with Iran, it never got anywhere back to where it was, and now we're back to zero. So that, of course, has affected the market's pricing of oil and perception of future

oil prices. Here's where we were before the war, $72, shot up well over $100 when the war started. When we had the MOU and brief piece, it went back actually all the way to $72. and now it's at 85. And so we are looking at higher oil prices as the straight remains closed. And if it were to remain closed for longer, you would see oil prices go up. The other point to make here is that as you go out, the market does not believe oil prices in the next several years at least are going to get back to where they were before the war. There's been a lot of infrastructure destruction.

Trump is now muttering about bombing Karg Island, in Iran, which would be a huge problem. and so we could we should expect that oil prices will stay higher for longer. All right. Morning Joe, economic analyst. Steve Ratner, thank you very much. And joining us now, Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, he's a member of the Foreign Relations Judiciary and Appropriations Committee. So we have a lot of different stories to cover with him. Yeah, we certainly do. I want to first start just with somebody that you worked with anew. I came in with Lindsay in 1994, after the 94 election. I think I read some of your recollections of him.

He was politically, he was just maddening. He just drove me absolutely crazy on a lot of issues. But then again, on Ukraine and others, he was a stalwart. I was glad that he was, when he was on the right side of something, he was a great advocate for it. I'm just curious, before we get into all the details, of what's going on today. Talk about your colleague, Lindsey Graham, who we lost a couple days ago. Well, Joe, a tireless advocate for Ukraine is absolutely one of the things that defined him in recent years.

I first got to know Lindsay through our mutual friend John McCain through traveling with them together around the world. Lindsay and I traveled to Africa many times, to the Middle East, many times. And he's someone who fought tirelessly for America's place in the world. In 2016, he ran for president because he was afraid that his party, Donald Trump in particular, had a worldview that would abandon our partnerships and our alliances. I was at the NATO summit in Ankara last week for two days and had the blessing of a dinner with Lindsay. We'd had a very difficult year. He and I had fought over quite a few things. But it was good that we had a chance to have that last dinner. It was a positive conversation. And we were talking about things we might get

done in the future. He was in a great mood because President Zelensky had had a terrific meeting with Trump. And Lindsay, ever the optimist, was believing that somehow he'd finally turned Trump around on supporting Ukraine. He went into Kiev the next day and was gone last weekend. So I'll remember him as someone who was hysterically funny, who was tireless, who was willing to work across the aisle on immigration, on infrastructure, on development, and on diplomacy. But obviously, there were major areas we strongly disagreed about it was an on-again, off-again relationship, but someone who I will miss dearly. All right, I want to move to the confirmation hearings of Todd Blanche for Attorney General. And I'm curious, you're on the Judiciary Committee.

What are you hoping your fellow Republicans will really focus? Do, do diligence on and consider before their vote. Here's a chance for several of my Republican colleagues to make good on their commitment that they will hold Trump more to account. There are two members at least of the committee, Senators Cornyn and Tillis, whose long careers in public service end this year in no small part because of their disagreements with President Trump. And Todd Blanche is someone who as acting Attorney General has already done things that I believe

disqualify him to be Attorney General. He was responsible for the rollout of the Epstein files. I'll remind our viewers, President Trump ran on releasing the Epstein files. Yet once he became president, he dragged his feet. They did everything they could to put the interests of Trump and his wealthy friends over those of victims. he's the person who proposed and championed the weaponization fund, a $10 billion settlement of a fake lawsuit where Trump sued himself, essentially, a president suing his own government,

and then set up a $10 billion settlement fund, which they might have paid off the rioters who assaulted police. He's used the Department of Justice to go after Trump's perceived enemies, as recently as this past week issuing subpoenas to New York Times journalists who dared report on the fact that Trump's Qatari gift plane doesn't have the security features it needs for him to travel around the world. So there's lots of material. I intend to vote no on Todd Blanche's nomination. I do not think he is an appropriate attorney general.

And I think he was nominated because he's in Trump's mold. He doesn't see the Attorney General as someone whose job it is to serve the Constitution and fight for the American people. He sees the Attorney General and the Department of Justice as his own lawyer and his own legal department. And that's bad for our country and wrong under our Constitution and our political culture of the past. Senator, good morning. You know as well as I do. If the shoe were on the other foot, if this were the nominee of a Democratic president, and that nominee had literally been the personal attorney for the president of the United States. It would be a non-starter. You never even get this far.

But here we are, which raises the question. You mentioned a couple of names. Do you have confidence that Republicans in this case may vote against someone who Donald Trump loves, who's an ally of his, who's done his dirty work for him? Because they haven't much over the last decade or so. Do I have hope? Yes. Do I have confidence? No.

It would be a refreshing move for them to go back to doing the job of a senator, which is. is to conduct meaningful oversight, to serve as a break. We are the Article I branch under our Constitution, and each of us takes an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. And our framers, 250 years ago, set up this system of checks and balances. They knew that men were not angels,

but they expected that by putting in place a structure in the Senate that would be a check on the executive, on the president, by having us confirm the cabinet, by having us confirm judges, by having us confirm ambassadors, and giving us the power of the purse, that we would put the interests of the Senate and the country over the interests of any region or political party or other faction, the term that they used. Our Republican colleagues in the Senate are utterly failing at this job. And a number of the ones I count as friends have embarrassing moments in the last year where they voted for nominees. they knew better than to support Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr., Pete Hegseth,

and there's a chance here for those who voted for Pam Bondi and then got to see the results to take a different path. Senator Coons, we want to turn now to these two recent fatal shootings by ICE officers, one in Houston, one in Maine. We had a lengthy conversation earlier this morning, including about that, including noting that ICE has sent out, DHS has sent out guidelines to stop with these traffic stops, that they're shooting at moving vehicles.

Well, just a few moments ago, President Trump went on Truth Social and doubled down on that tactic, saying we should, ICE cannot give up one of its most important and effective crime-fighting tools. The traffic stop, once we do, it'll play right into criminals' hands.

It says the radical left Democrats would like nothing more, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So just wanted to get your thoughts here about what you've seen is yet two more, yet more killings of people on American streets

by these federal ICE officers. Let's be clear. This is not something radical left Democrats want. This is something Americans want. Policing in a democracy has to follow simple rules. In the 10 years that I was a countywide elected official, I was responsible for oversight and partnership with the second largest police department in my home state. I respect law enforcement. We give them awesome powers, a badge and a gun. But we also expect them to follow the Constitution and the policies and procedures that make for safe policing. When police partner with our communities, when they follow policies and procedures that are appropriate, policing can be done in a safe and constitutional way. And for months,

Democrats tried to get Republicans here in the Senate to make a few simple policy changes, to make sure that ICE and CBP were wearing body cameras, we're wearing identification so you can know who they are. We're not wearing masks. We're driving vehicles that were marked. and were accountable in officer use of force instances. My colleague Susan Collins from Maine said that in voting for the $70 billion that was given by Republicans to ICE, she got a commitment for the wearing of body cameras and for use of force incident policies. That doesn't seem to have happened. And these two more recent tragedies of the four killings that have happened in broad daylight on our streets are things that

Republicans must be accountable for fixing. This is just wrong. And for me in particular, seeing that account, hearing the account of Sebastian's now widow and young child, three-year-old, wailing by the side of the car after he had been shot point-blank is just heartbreaking. And all of us need to step up and do a better job of holding to account those who we give the power of life and death in law enforcement, recognizing that we want safe communities, but we can achieve them in an appropriate and just way by having policies and procedures, just like every other state and local law enforcement agency in our country. Why should ICE be given billions of dollars, lack of training, lack of supervision and oversight,

and not be held accountable? This is a fundamental challenge to civil liberties and to justice in our nation. Yeah, well, you know, that's a good question for Susan Collins to answer. Jonathan Amir, the president's just wrong. Americans are against what ICE is doing. You know, it's very interesting. You look at polls. Two-thirds of Americans think more police officers in their communities make them safer.

I agree with them. Two-thirds of Americans, about the same amount, disagree vehemently with ICE tactics, with what ICE is due. over 50% of Americans think that I should either be completely defunded or have their funding slashed. So if you're a Republican and you're running for re-election and you're seeing Americans being gunned down in the streets or you're seeing fathers, workers who've been here for over 30 years being gunned down in the streets, you're seeing these stops that would have an NYPD officer fired and probably arrested, pushed by this administration. If you're a Republican seeing the president doubling and tripling down on these heartless

killings, you're very worried right now. You're very worried because you know that the overwhelming majority of Americans disagree with the president. The overwhelming majority of Americans want police to keep their communities safe, but want ice out. They want the killings to stop in the streets. of America. They love their police. They want police to keep their communities safe. And at the same time, they want ice out. And this president is just doubling and tripling down on the,

just the cold-blooded killing of fathers, of parents, of husbands, of workers, right now. And he's doing it right now. I mean, so if you're a Republican and you know how unpopular is, like, when are you going to start pushing back and telling the president, no, we can't let these thugs continue killing people

in the streets of America. We kept talking in months past about when that moment might come. Like, there was some suggestion maybe after the Republican primaries or after filing deadlines. We kept looking for these markers that, hey, that maybe when this date comes and

And a Republican candidate realizes that he or she doesn't need as much support from Trump. They have more freedom to disagree with him. Maybe the he or she would. That's with very few exceptions still not happening. It's still not happening, despite Trump being on the wrong side of seemingly most issues, despite his poll numbers being completely in the tank, despite him doubling and tripling down on these toxic issues. And let's remember, Joe Mika, his original promise was that this deportation program

was going to focus on the worst of the worst. not only has that not happened, but it's how they're enforcing this, including doubling down on the traffic stops today from the president the day after. I said they were going to back off of it. And also who they're using to conduct these ice operations, who they're using to conduct these stops, including reporting from the Atlantic this morning that the shooter in the main shooting was a new recruit, someone who perhaps didn't have the proper ice training.

This was not someone who had done this kind of work before. and that's why we're seeing these moments of violence and why so many people fear there'll be more to come. And it's so important that you mentioned that Susan Collins, you know, voted for more money for ICE for body cams. And that was back in April, I believe, that vote. So they had time to get body cameras in there. But even more, if they didn't, they had a lot of money back in April. They already had a lot of money. There is no excuse for body cams to not be on the bodies of these.

very untrained ice officers. Well, let's just, let's take, they don't want evidence. Let's take Susan Collins at her own word. Thank you, Susan Collins. Susan Collins says that she voted to give them $70 billion for body cams and investigations. All right. Where are they? Where's the investigation?

The body cam wasn't there. So where's the investigation, Susan? You said there was going to be an investigation. They're shooting people in the streets of your state. Maine. In Bidford. Hardworking, beautiful town. is the investigation that you promised Mainers.

It's all connected to... Where's the investigation? Let's see it. Or will there be a cover-up like there was in Minneapolis when Alex Freddie was gunned down and what looked like an execution-style killing? Or when Renee Good was gunned down, shot three times from the side of her car,

those investigations never came. Will there be an investigation to Houston? Will there be an investigation in your home state? You said there was going to be. I hope you're not lying to your voters. Let's see that investigation start now. And if you trust people in your own state, then let Maine cops, let Maine investigators, let Maine prosecutors do the work, and let Maine judges, along with Maine jury members,

render the verdict. Susan, if what you mean is what you said, this is very simple. start the investigation today. Yeah. We're also learning new details about President Trump's primetime speech set for tomorrow night. Two administration officials told MS. Now the address will focus on voting machine security and alleged foreign efforts to influence U.S. Oh, good.

We're finally going to talk about Russia in 2016. I'm glad they're finally doing that. No, there's also been speculation President Trump may declare. Georgia's, the state of Georgia, 2020 election results illegitimate. Is that where he asked the Republican Secretary of State to find him 11,000 plus votes so he could win? That's the state. That's the state. That's the one. So he's going back to that. In fact, yeah. In fact, here's what Democratic Senator John Austin. I'd stay away from that if I were him.

Who won by a narrow margin in the state's 2020 runoffs. Because the Georgia Secretary of State has him on tape saying rig this election for me. Yeah. Well, he's- Find me the 11,000. thousand plus votes. I remember that. I think we all heard it. Is he going back to, he wants us to talk about that? Why does he want us to talk about that?

Here's what Aosov told reporters yesterday about Trump's baseless claims of voter fraud. Very confused indeed. The president of the United States tried to commit voter fraud in Georgia when he badgered Brad Raffensberger to, quote, find him the exact number of votes he needed to win in a state he had lost. in 2020. He is reheating debunked conspiracy theories and launching bizarre new lies because he fears losing these midterm elections. What do you say to your Republican colleagues who may agree with the president on this? I don't know of Republican colleagues who agree with the president and as privately most elected Republicans in this building think the president has lost it and is dooming them

to dismal losses this fall. Senator Coons, Does that line up with what you're hearing from your Republican colleagues? And what have you make of this idea that President Trump in a primetime address to the nation tomorrow night will go back to the 2020 election to explore all these debunked claims? And he says to introduce new information, which sounds like he's going back to one of these conspiracies about the Chinese government, getting into voting machines, all this stuff we litigated six years ago. And that this administration and that Donald Trump lost before more than 60 judges across the country. dredging that up again. What do you make of it? What I hear from Delawareans is they'd like to hear President Trump explain the tens of billions of dollars are spending on a war in Iran. They'd like to hear some path forward on how costs come down, the costs of housing and health care, gas, and groceries.

And nobody asks me to relitigate the 2020 election. I think this is President Trump trying to sharply off of what is on the minds of voters, and Republicans in the Senate are despondent. The few I've talked to about this, about how the president isn't focused on the things he needs to focus on, leading our country forward rather than driving the car looking in the rearview mirror. President Trump is filled with and fueled by grievance. And part of the Todd Blanche hearings today for Attorney General will be about how President Trump has required him, urged him, goaded him into relitigating and going after folks like

Jim Comey from years ago, rather than using the Department of Justice to make Americans safer. It is possible for us to be safe and to have police who conduct themselves in an appropriate way. And to go back to the previous point we were discussing, several of us in the Democratic caucus in the Senate have co-sponsored a bill to take. some of those tens of billions of dollars that have been given to ICE and transfer them to state and local law enforcement who overwhelmingly do a good job of keeping Americans safe and take that money away from a lawless agency that has untrained new recruits and is killing

people in the streets. President Trump should address that crisis. How will he keep the American people safe in a way that's just, rather than relitigating conspiracy theories, that have already been trotted out in court after court after court and failed. Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. We really appreciate it. Take care. Still ahead, we'll take a look at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. After it was drained this week, as President Trump continues to criticize vandals, people getting killed in the street, and he's worried about kayakers vandalizing his bad paint job. Plus, New York Governor Kathy Hochel will join us to discuss her new push against AI data centers in the state.

Morning Joe is coming right back.