Trump repeats claim that California election was rigged – US politics live

Senator Adam Schiff , a California Democrat and former federal prosecutor who serves on the Senate judiciary committee, has released a statement opposing the confirmation of Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, to the job on a permanent basis.

Schiff says that Blanche has continued to act as Trump’s personal lawyer, noting in particular: his support for the indictment of James Comey , the former FBI director and Trump critic, for posting an Instagram photo of seashells on a beach arranged to read: “86 47”; his decree that Trump and his family should be exempt from prosecution or audits by the IRS; his approval of a $1.776bn fund to reward Trump supporters who claim that they were prosecuted on political grounds.

double quotation mark “At every turn, Todd Blanche has been unable to put aside his role as Donald Trump’s criminal defense lawyer and represent the American people instead.

“He has allowed the President to abuse the Department of Justice to go after his political enemies with absurd seashells cases, engaged in the most blatant self-dealing by representing both Trump and his government in an IRS scam, and blessed a corrupt slush fund for cop beaters.

“This is hardly the stuff of Attorney Generals.

“The Senate must vigorously oppose his confirmation.”