Three of Trump’s nominees sat for confirmation on the same day a federal judge’s fraud finding hung over the tallest of them — and by airtime, the votes to sink him were coming into view. Zev Shalev and Dean Blundell spent the hour with attorney and military veteran Anne P. Mitchell, who watched the Blanche hearing with Zev gavel to gavel and came armed with the one legal wrinkle nobody else caught.
5️⃣ THE HIGH-T DEPARTMENT OF WAR
Pete Hegseth opened the day by authorizing annual testosterone-deficiency screening for every warfighter over 30 — “the biological foundation required to sustain the fight.” This from the secretary who banned flu vaccines until 222 active-duty members got sick enough to bring the mandate back.
Mitchell’s read ran the other way: “He actually is saying the quiet part out loud. We’re going to boost your testosterone so unnaturally high that you are going to be just hair-trigger angry all the time. And then we’re going to funnel that anger into the quote-unquote enemy.” Dean reached for the historical parallel — the Luftwaffe’s amphetamine program — and Mitchell reached for the obvious question: what does Moscow think of an army that announces its men need pharmaceutical help to be fighters?
4️⃣ CLAYTON, DEFENESTRATED
Jay Clayton wants to run American intelligence and could not say who won the 2020 election. Jon Ossoff asked him seven times. “I’m not going to do this with you. This is a job interview,” Clayton offered — before the exchange collapsed into “I’ve answered the question” / “No, you didn’t” / “That’s my answer.”
Then came Fulton County: Clayton claimed he first learned yesterday, in Ossoff’s office, that Tulsi Gabbard attended the raid on a Georgia election facility — then conceded thirty seconds later he simply hadn’t “thought about it recently.” Mitchell called the whole performance what a courtroom would: “This is the equivalent of invoking the Fifth, in terms of non-responsiveness.” Zev called the ritual itself: a loyalty test. Lie about 2020 under oath, and the president knows you’ll lie about whatever comes next.
3️⃣ TOMORROW AT 9: THE OPERATION
The 2020 question wasn’t academic. Tomorrow night Trump takes primetime to unveil “declassified intelligence” about the election he lost — served up by acting DNI Bill Pulte, teed up for the man who wouldn’t say who won. Mitchell flagged the tell in the credible reporting: foreign *plans* to interfere — not evidence anything happened. Old news, rebranded as a scandal, 110 days before the midterms.
And the show put down the marker that matters: he cannot cancel the midterms. “The states have control over elections, even federal elections,” Mitchell said. Zev’s count: the administration is 0-for-14 trying to pry voter rolls from the states — “and he will go 0-for-50.”
2️⃣ THE MATH THAT SINKS BLANCHE
The Judiciary Committee sits 11–10 with Graham’s chair empty, and by airtime both John Cornyn and Thom Tillis were being reported as no votes — two Republicans who got primaried out of their party and, as Mitchell put it, got handed their freedom in the process. Blanche spent the day answering fraud questions with “I don’t know” and “I wasn’t part of that decision” — about a settlement he announced, advocated, and signed. Under oath, Mitchell noted, those are the only words left that aren’t a confession.
1️⃣ THE $2 BILLION SELF-DEAL
The story of the day, walked step by step. Trump sued his own IRS over his leaked tax returns. The DOJ — which, in Judge Kathleen Williams’ words, has “vigorously defended” the IRS in every such suit — rolled over for this one. The IRS’s own rank and file had prepared a 25-page defense that was never used. Trump dismissed his own case with prejudice; the $1.776 billion “settlement” appeared the next day, paying Trump allies and immunizing the family’s taxes forever. Williams reopened the case after 35 former federal judges told her something smelled, voided the fund, named the lawyers — and referred them for discipline.
Then Mitchell delivered the wrinkle: the settlement protects “plaintiffs” — and the moment Trump dismissed the case, there were no plaintiffs. “It was a non-entity that was being protected. Blanche had to know that. A first-year law student would know that.” Whether that makes the AG nominee a fraudster or a man quietly harpooning his own client’s scheme, the paper trail runs through his signature either way.
THE PATTERN
One day, one test, three nominees — and every answer pointed at the same boss. The fraud was signed at Justice, the loyalty oath was administered at Intelligence, and the audience for all of it speaks at 9 PM Thursday. The desperation is the tell: a president polling at Nixon levels, stacking officials whose only qualification is what they’ll refuse to say under oath. Watch tomorrow night with us — and as Mitchell said, call, call, call.
Watch: [link]Thank you Robin Payes, Shulamit Elson, Cathy R. Payne, Lalisa, Cheryl Young, and many others for tuning into my live video with Anne P. Mitchell, Esq. and Dean Blundell! Join me for my next live video in the app.
