Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) vowed on Tuesday to block President Biden’s nominees to Justice Department posts in protest of the 37-count indictment brought against former President Donald Trump by special counsel Jack Smith.
“I’ve heard from a lot of people that they’re so frustrated, as I am, with the fact that Merrick Garland has used the Department of Justice for politics instead of law. And I think it’s time we stopped just whining about this problem and debating this problem and actually do something about it,” Vance said in a video posted on Twitter Tuesday.
“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.
Vance’s hold is expected to impact at least two of Biden’s DOJ nominees listed in the Senate calendar as awaiting floor votes: Rosemarie Hidalgo to be director of the Violence Against Women Office and Todd Gee to be US Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi.
Vance’s hold on DOJ nominees will not apply to US Marshals Service nominees.
Senate Democrats will still be able to push through nominees if they have the votes, but Vance’s action will force Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to schedule votes on individual nominees rather than confirming them by unanimous consent.
“I think that we have to grind this department to a halt until Merrick Garland promises to do his job and stop going after his political opponents,” Vance said of the attorney general, who appointed Smith to oversee the DOJ’s multiple investigations into Trump in November of last year – after the former president launched his 2024 White House bid.
Vance went on to argue that Trump is “just one and the most recent example” of Garland’s use of his department for “political purposes.”
“We have Catholic fathers harassed for their pro-life activism. We, of course, have violent criminals walking the streets after the 2020 summer of riots, and if you’re letting the violent criminals go free and you’re harassing Christian parents for their political activism, you’re not engaged in justice. You’re engaged in politics,” he said.
Vance added that he hopes to make the DOJ “work a little bit more slowly” until the attorney general “changes course and actually does his job the right way.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who announced Monday that she plans to introduce a measure to “defund Jack Smith” in light of Trump’s indictment, thanked Vance in a tweet for his protest.
“Yes [Vance]! Thank you! Action is the only way forward. Stop the weaponized government and hold them accountable!” Greene wrote on Twitter Tuesday.
The former president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., also praised Vance in a tweet Tuesday, calling him, “one of the few Republicans in the US Senate who isn’t afraid to stand up to Biden, Garland and the radical left.”
Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-NY) decried Vance’s move, likening it to acting as Trump’s public defender.
“Congressional Republicans are using your tax dollars to act as Trump’s legal defense team,” Goldman wrote in a tweet.
Trump on Tuesday pleaded not guilty in a Miami federal court to 37 felony counts related to his alleged mishandling and concealment of classified White House documents.