Some members of one of Washington’s most exclusive clubs have a message for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche: We don’t want you.
Around February last year, Blanche started the rigorous process to join the Metropolitan Club, one of Washington’s oldest private clubs, which claims DC royalty as members. But at least six members have written to the Met Club’s board of directors to object to Blanche’s joining, saying he is too polarizing and has politicized the Justice Department, according to two current members who have seen or been told about the letters.
Even among the powerful, Blanche has become too controversial to break bread with.
Why They Don’t Want Him
Members objecting to Blanche’s membership point to the same concern: the Justice Department under his leadership has become an instrument of political vengeance. “He is targeting a lot of people, and the Justice Department is targeting a lot of the members of the club, like judges, nonprofit organizations and universities,” said one member, who, like others for this article, was granted anonymity because the Met Club prohibits its associates from speaking to the media about internal business.
Outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — whom the DOJ was investigating as part of a probe into renovations at the central bank — is a member of the club. The Justice Department dropped its criminal investigation into Powell and the Federal Reserve on Friday. The timing is notable. The investigation ended. But the resentment among club members has not.
A second Met Club member, who told POLITICO they have penned a letter to the Met’s leadership urging them to reject Blanche, called the acting DOJ leader’s comments essentially supporting President Donald Trump’s use of the DOJ to go after his perceived enemies “pretty startling.” The member noted that the Met Club has current and former judges among its ranks who could take offense.
“I am disappointed that the club’s standards are slipping on so many levels and can only hope that the club leadership will recover, grab the rudder and set us on a smooth sail once again,” said a third Met Club member opposed to Blanche’s membership.
The Club’s Elite Status
The membership list of the Met Club is a who’s who of DC aristocracy that transcends partisanship. Founded in the 1860s by several Treasury officials, it has counted at least six US presidents, numerous Cabinet members, including Henry Kissinger and Dean Acheson, as well as senators and governors as members. In a New York Times story from 1983, it was derided as a “Moose Lodge for the powerful” that, at the time, had a five-year waiting list.
The club is not without its own controversial history. In 1961, then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy — and several other members — resigned from the Met Club because it discriminated against Blacks. The club only allowed Black members beginning in 1972. It banned women from joining as members until 1988.
Now, the club is facing a different kind of controversy: whether to admit a member of an administration that many of its own members view as hostile to the institutions they represent.
“The Trump administration is at war with most American institutions, and so the people who represent those institutions, many of them are at the club,” the first club member added. “And the club is the kind of place where you want to be able to relax and have a congenial conversation. But if he’s in there, given that the Justice Department is so combative and aggressive, this is not the kind of tone that we want.”
The Application Process
The Met Club’s membership application requires two sponsors and at least eight supportive letters from current members. Many people who go through the process gain entry, although it can take at least a year. But there have been notable rejections, including Bush-era Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was reportedly rejected from trying to get into the club.
Blanche’s two main sponsors could also have business before the Justice Department. He is sponsored by Bill Burck, global co-managing partner of the law firm Quinn Emanuel and co-chair of a practice focused on government investigations and white-collar defense, and James M. McDonald, a litigation partner at Sullivan and Cromwell who co-heads the firm’s securities and commodities investigations practice, according to two club members.
Burck and Blanche have been friends for almost 25 years. They met as colleagues starting their careers in the US Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York. Burck and McDonald declined to comment. Blanche’s other letters of support mostly come from lawyers, according to one of the members.
The Silence
Justin Peterson, the president of the Met Club and the managing partner of the PR and lobbying firm DCI Group, did not respond to requests for comment. The Met Club also did not respond to a request for comment. Blanche did not respond to a request for comment. A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment, saying it was a personal matter.
The silence from the club’s leadership is notable. If Blanche were a routine applicant, the objections of a handful of members might not matter. But these are not routine times. And Blanche is not a routine applicant.
The club is facing a choice: admit the acting attorney general of a controversial administration and risk alienating its existing members, or reject him and face accusations of partisanship from the right. There is no clean option.
The Bottom Line
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is seeking membership at the Metropolitan Club, one of Washington’s oldest and most exclusive private clubs. At least six members have written to the club’s board objecting to his joining, arguing that he has politicized the Justice Department and is too polarizing. Members cited the DOJ’s investigation of outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell — a club member — which was dropped on Friday. Others noted that the club has current and former judges among its ranks who could take offense at Blanche’s comments supporting Trump’s use of the DOJ against perceived enemies.
Blanche has two sponsors and has submitted letters of support, mostly from lawyers. The club’s leadership has not responded to requests for comment. Blanche and the DOJ have also declined to comment.
The man who leads the Justice Department is finding that power does not guarantee entry into every room. And the elite of Washington are making it clear: being the president’s lawyer is not the same as being one of them.
