Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) delivered a scathing rebuke of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche during a Senate committee hearing Tuesday, invoking an unprecedented allegation against the nation’s top law enforcement official that he argued should derail Blanche’s confirmation.

Blanche appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday as lawmakers weighed advancing his nomination to serve as attorney general permanently. Whitehouse argued that confirming Blanche should be a nonstarter, flagging a past accusation leveled at Blanche in court.

“Let’s not forget that there is an ongoing proceeding in Florida in federal court with an open question [of] whether Todd Blanche committed a fraud upon the court,” Whitehouse said.

“We don’t hear that term ‘fraud upon the court’ very often – it’s probably the worst thing you can accuse someone of in a court proceeding. It means you’re an officer of the court, it means you abused the process of the court, and you did so in order to accomplish an unjust and wrongful result.”

Whitehouse was referring to Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, a case in the Southern District of Florida involving Trump’s lawsuit over his leaked tax returns. A total of 35 former federal judges asked the presiding judge to reopen the case and accused Blanche of committing “fraud on the court.”

“It’s actually worse than contempt of court – it is so bad that in the history of the Department of Justice, no senior official has ever been even accused of a fraud upon the court!” Whitehouse railed. “And we’re advancing this guy before that question is settled?”

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