Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) is suggesting a little fighting fire with fire in response to the DOJ’s approval of the indictment of Donald Trump. He has pledged to block Biden’s nominees to Justice Department posts to protest the 37-count indictment against Trump.

Like Mike Pence, most Republicans cannot defend Trump’s actions with the boxes of classified materials that the National Archives demanded he return. However, it is impossible to deny that politics played a big role in Garland’s decision. C’mon, man.

Pence also slammed the Justice Department for its role in “two and a half years of a Russia hoax” and said that “after years of politicization, it’s hard for me to believe that politics didn’t play some role in this decision.”

He told the Journal that Attorney General Merrick Garland owes Americans an explanation of what role “he played or his judgement played” in the first ever federal indictment of a former commander in chief.

Senator Vance said he’s heard from a lot of people who are frustrated with Merrick Garland politicizing the Department of Justice. He said the time is now to put up or shut up. It’s time to stop whining about it and open a debate about the problem and do something about it. “Grind the department to a halt.”

Until Merrick Garland stops using his agency to harass Joe Biden’s political opponents, I will hold all DoJ nominees. pic.twitter.com/UVRwi6Ue01

— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) June 13, 2023

“So, I’ve announced today that I will be holding all Department of Justice nominees that Merrick Garland will use – if confirmed – not to enforce the law impartially, which is his duty, but clearly to harass his political opponents,” the freshman senator declared.

Sounds like a reasonable response. A senator putting holds on nominees to force a discussion or a negotiation or just to object to advancing a particularly bad nominee is something that any senator can do. His holds won’t affect U.S. Marshals Service nominees, so it won’t be too serious. But it will likely affect two nominees that Democrats will be antsy to move through for confirmation – Rosemarie Hidalgo who is nominated to be director of the Violence Against Women Office and Todd Gee who is nominated to be U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of Mississippi. That’s not too drastic. I imagine the Hidalgo nomination will smart the most for Biden. We know how much he likes to brag about his work on the subject of violence against women. He single-handedly ended domestic violence against women with his legislation in the Senate, you know. (sarcasm)

Nominees can still be pushed through the Senate if they have enough votes for confirmation but Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will have to schedule votes for each nominee, not confirm them by unanimous consent. Too bad, so sad, Chuck.

Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith after Trump launched his 2024 campaign last November. Smith was appointed to oversee the DOJ’s multiple investigations into Trump. Smith made quick work of it, especially in comparison to the special counsel at work, allegedly, in Delaware who has been investigating Hunter Biden for five years. Five years. This is a reason why so many Republicans and some Democrats admit the decision to indict Trump now during a presidential campaign is so suspicious. Garland and Smith are running interference for Trump’s opponent, if Trump is the winning candidate in the Republican primary.

Vance hopes to slow down DOJ’s work until Garland “changes course and actually does his job the right way.”

Republicans are responding favorably to Vance’s move. Democrats? Not so much.

Congressional Republicans are using your tax dollars to act as Trump’s legal defense team. https://t.co/tI1pEc2I5E

— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) June 13, 2023

And on we go.

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