This episode of The Parnas Perspective looks at a tense week in Washington after Democrats won both chambers of Congress. The host reports that Attorney General Todd Blanch would not rule out prosecuting Democratic lawmakers who plan to investigate the administration, while Democrats say they will not be intimidated.
The episode also covers Republican criticism of tobacco lobbying influence on health policy, including past FDA efforts to restrict kratom and fruit-flavored vapes, and speculation that JD Vance should reconsider a 2028 presidential run. It closes with Mitch McConnell's brief reaction to the midterm results.
In this episode Aaron Parnas
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Five days after Democrats won both chambers of Congress, Donald Trump's attorney general went on national television and refused to rule out prosecuting the lawmakers who plan on investigating him. At the same time, one of Trump's most loyal senators accused his administration of corruption. Republicans are openly circling JD Vance for 2028, saying maybe he should not run in the first place. And Stephen Miller is officially in charge of the West Wing. The Trump White House isn't just under pressure from Democrats tonight; it's actively cracking from the inside.
If you can, subscribe, support this work. We're going to have a busy next several weeks. Like, comment, share. Let's start with the most alarming story of the weekend. Today on CNN, Attorney General Todd Blanch was asked whether Democratic lawmakers could be prosecuted for promising to investigate the administration. Take a listen to what he said.
President Trump said, quote, "I am ordering the Department of Justice to look into this criminal act." End quote. Are you going to follow that order and investigate Democratic members of Congress? And what is the criminal act you think he's referring to?
Well, what we've seen over the past several days, and even over the past several weeks, are outright threats. Many, many by elected members of Congress and some senators against anybody that's conservative and anybody that happens to be a Republican. They've threatened donors. They've threatened individuals who are in college and might want to work for conservative institutions or for a conservative government or for President Trump. And that is extremely troubling, and it should be troubling to everybody in this country. And over the last several days, we've seen that rhetoric even rise up to the point where they're already before they're even in power, they're already talking about investigations and impeachments with no basis, no facts, just out there running around.
That should be something that President Trump is very concerned about, and certainly I am as well.
Yeah. Well, they are talking about investigation as part of their oversight role that is prescribed by the Constitution, which you know is very well laid out. Is that what you're concerned about?
Wait, wait, hold on a second.
Sorry.
Or are you concerned about something else?
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
No, no, no, no, no. They have a very unique role in oversight. I agree. Have you been listening to the rhetoric the past couple of days? You honestly think that all they're doing is talking about their oversight obligations when they're talking about going after basically every member of the Cabinet. They're talking about impeachments. They're talking about going after private companies who happen to have made investments in this country over the past couple of years. That is not oversight. I welcome oversight. Oversight is exactly something they should be doing.
So are you saying that you are going to investigate them? And what you just described, is there a crime there?
Well, what I just described depends on what's said. So yes, there could be. You have free speech in this country. You are allowed to be critical of President Trump, of me, of this administration. But when the threats become so vile and so dangerous that you are telling people in college that they better be careful if they want to work in the Trump administration because somebody will come after them, at some point you have to draw the line. And I'm not saying that necessarily that every case is going to be prosecuted. But we have a real problem in this country. If a young person in college is getting threatened by a United States senator that if they go to work for President.
Let's be clear about something. And let's be clear very clearly. The administration has tried this before and has failed. Back in February, a federal grand jury refused to indict Senator Alyssa Slotkin and five other Democrats over a video urging troops to refuse unlawful orders. Now, remember who Todd Blanch is? He was Trump's personal criminal defense lawyer. As attorney general, he's led efforts to prosecute Trump's political enemies, including James Comey. And according to Jamie Rask and the incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Blanch himself could be a target for impeachment.
This threatens a constitutional crisis over the separation of powers. Democrats aren't backing down, though. Today, Congressman Robert Garcia, who will ultimately chair the House Oversight Committee, has told Trump officials, including Stephen Miller, to lawyer up. Blanch fired back on CNN, saying, "I would be very worried if I was a member on that committee." He said that the Department of Justice will provide lawyers for administration officials facing congressional investigations, including Miller himself. Garcia's response? "They can come after us however they want. We're not going to be intimidated.
The days of us not fighting back are over." Voters are on Congress's side. The AP voter poll found about 7 in 10 say Congress isn't doing enough to check the presidency. To be fair, not every Democrat wants investigations to dominate, but yet they will. They will in this Congress. Now, inside the White House, officials are rattled after a former official, Casey Means, has come out and exposed the administration for what Senator Ron Johnson, a top Republican ally of the president's, says is complete corruption.
Take a listen to what he had to say today.
Excuse everything.
So The New York Times reported that tobacco lobbyists had actually been at the president's Florida golf course with him at lunch, advocating to the president. He picked up the phone and he called RFK Jr.
Yeah, but.
Did that happen?
I don't know. Brian Ballard was at that meeting, and I know that Susie set up a lot of meetings with Brian Ballard to get a talking point that the president supports something. Again, I do not think fruit-flavored vapes or gas station heroin is any percentage of what President Trump is thinking about or wants to do.
Because there is a pattern here. It was in the first Trump administration that the FDA tried to crack down on Kratom, what you're calling gas station heroin. They also tried to crack down on fruit-flavored vapes. The FDA commissioner at that time, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, left.
And I think.
And yet in the second Trump administration, these very same issues are surfacing again. Are you sure the president isn't okay with it?
I am sure that the president realizes that he has a generational coalition with Secretary Kennedy. He respects Secretary Kennedy. He wants to go hard on the issue of improving health for children. I think he had severe poor advice from people, I think, who treated him like a baby in many respects and used him.
The president's staff treated him like a baby.
Of course. They would block access to and information to him all the time. I would be not surprised at all, you know, if they had very short conversations on these issues, you know, where the president's extremely busy and the president said, "Okay, whatever." And then they.
Or he's not interested.
Yeah, then they use that. Like it's all it was all like the president wants this.
Well.
He says that they treat the president like a baby. Now, meanwhile, the Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, who is seeking to try and run for president in just a matter of months, is being told right now privately by several advisors that maybe running for president isn't the answer. Instead, they say he should run for his old Senate seat in Ohio. Sherrod Brown is having to run for reelection in just two years, or to run for governor of Ohio. Now, you can ask folks like Mitch McConnell what he thinks about this, but Mitch McConnell isn't going to give you a clear answer.
And in fact, today Mitch McConnell was asked about the results, and I want you to hear what he had to say.
Connell, can I get your quick reaction to the midterms, the GOP's midterm losses? What do you think is going to change? Do you think that Republicans. Okay, no problem. Do you think Republicans will get anything done in the lame duck session?
It's not like he had much of a response. So that's the news right now. I'll have more updates for you soon. As always, if you can, subscribe, support this work, like, comment, share. It's going to be a busy next couple of weeks before the holidays, and I'm just so thankful and so grateful to each and every single one of you. We're building something big, and I hope you all had a very restful and peaceful Sunday. Get ready for a busy Monday.
Aaron Parnas reports on the news of the day.
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