WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is set to confront questions about his brief but turbulent tenure atop the Justice Department during a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday that will test President Donald Trump's grip on Republican lawmakers whose support the nominee will need for the job.
Blanche, according to prepared remarks released before the hearing, is expected to tell lawmakers that he and his team are “restoring trust” in the Justice Department. It’s a nod toward complaints from Democrats that he has weaponized the law enforcement institution by pursuing criminal investigations into Trump’s perceived adversaries.
Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April. During that time, he has accelerated investigations into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a maligned fund meant to compensate the Republican president's allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an aggressive pursuit of news media leaks.
Here's the latest:
Blanche defends Trump’s audit immunity deal
Democrats have repeatedly asked Blanche about part of a deal to resolve Trump’s IRS lawsuit, which granted the president and members of his family protection from tax audits.
While the administration says it has shelved a separate part of the lawsuit deal — a $1.8 billion fund to compensate allies of the president — Blanche has previously said the audit immunity remains on track. That’s despite outrage over it, even from Republicans.
Blanche defended the immunity deal again during the hearing. He denied that it placed Trump above the law.
Key Republican says he’s still undecided on Blanche
After questioning Blanche, Sen. John Cornyn said he still hasn’t made up his mind over whether he will support his nomination for attorney general. If Cornyn votes against Blanche, it could scuttle his nomination.
Cornyn, who in May lost his primary, pressed Blanche during the hearing about the creation of a fund to compensate the president's allies and a tax immunity deal for the president. Cornyn told CNN afterward that he continues "to have some concerns" and is not "going to make any decisions at this point."
Another closely watched Republican senator, Thom Tillis, indicated during questioning that he is likely to support Blanche.
Tillis, a key vote for Blanche, criticizes Democrats in his remarks
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina opened his questioning by telling Blanche he “appeared to be doing very well.”
He then launched into a lengthy criticism of Democrats for not speaking out against what he viewed as politically motivated prosecutions under former President Joe Biden’s administration.
“It’s almost as if they weren’t here when the Biden administration did the indictments against President Trump,” Tillis said of Democrats.
Tillis said he wanted “to stick a fork in this turkey of a 1776 fund,” referring to the administration’s shelved “anti-weaponization fund.” He pressed Blanche to commit to helping with language to put into law that the fund cannot be resurrected.
Blanche said he “absolutely” would.
Blanche says he hasn’t been ‘celebrating’ Trump’s mass pardons for Capitol rioters
Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, told Blanche that it was a “shameful slap in the face” for Trump to pardon supporters who assaulted police officers during a mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Coons asked Blanche if he was proud of Trump’s decision.
“I wasn’t celebrating it,” Blanche said. But he added that he believes it was “very generous” for Trump to issue the blanket pardons to Capitol rioters.
Coons asked Blanche if he knew why Trump fired his predecessor, Pam Bondi, in April.
“I have no idea,” Blanche said. “We all serve at the pleasure of President Trump.”
Coons also asked Blanche whether he would resign if the president asked him to do something unethical.
“That would never happen, but yes: If it were to happen, I’m not going to violate my oath to the Constitution,” Blanche replied.
Whitehouse asks how long Blanche will ‘put up with that Kash Patel character’
Enumerating criticism of Director Kash Patel 's use of the FBI plane and his global travel, blurring professional responsibilities with leisure activities, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked if the trips were "a pretext for activities like snorkeling and girlfriends."
Blanche called the question “extraordinarily obnoxious,” going on to say he has “full faith” in Patel.
“Great, you get to own that,” Whitehouse quipped.
According to government emails obtained by The Associated Press, the FBI took pains to note Patel wasn't on vacation when he visited Hawaii last summer, highlighting his walking tour of the bureau's Honolulu field office and meetings with local law enforcement.
Left out of the FBI's releases was an excursion Patel took days later when he participated in what government officials described as a "VIP snorkel" around the USS Arizona, an outing coordinated by the military.
‘I’m his lawy
er,’ Blanche says of Trump, before correcting himself
Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, asked Blanche a string of questions about the nature of his relationship with Trump, including whether he considered the president a friend. Blanche represented Trump in multiple cases, including the election fraud case in Washington, before joining the Justice Department under Trump’s second term.
Blanche referred to himself as Trump’s attorney in the present tense, saying, “I’m his lawyer” before correcting himself to say that he “was his lawyer.”
Kennedy also asked Blanche if the president had ever asked him to do something illegal. Blanche said Trump had not.
“Would you do it if he asked you?” Kennedy asked.
“Absolutely not,” Blanche said.
Questioned by Cornyn, Blanche says $1.8B weaponization ‘fund is dead’
That came during an exchange with Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who is among the Republicans concerned about Blanche's nomination and who asked about the status of the settlement fund set up by the Trump administration for compensating people who claim to be victims of a weaponized government.
“I never started. No money went from the Treasury to any other account,” Blanche said. “There’s no commissioners. It’s not moving forward.”
Last month, a federal judge agreed to extend a court-ordered block on the fund indefinitely. Blanche previously told Congress the government was scrapping its plans in the face of fierce bipartisan backlash.
But plaintiffs’ attorneys haven’t been satisfied with Blanche’s assurances that the fund won’t move forward.
As Cornyn questioned that the agreement notes it remains “enforceable,” Blanche said he had discussed with Cornyn and others “about potentially codifying, so there’s no weaponization fund, which is certainly something that could be done.”
Blanche: ‘I don’t question President Trump’s authority’ on Jan. 6 pardons
Blanche didn’t endorse Trump’s move specifically, but said the U.S. Constitution gives presidents “the authority to pardon anybody for any federal crime.”
Just hours after returning to the White House last year, Trump pardoned, commuted the prison sentences or vowed to dismiss the cases of the 1,500-plus people charged with crimes in the riot.
Durbin took issue with the decision, saying that “someone should have grabbed him by the arm and said, ‘Stop, you can’t release all of those rioters.’”
“For the president to give a blanket pardon to these individuals is something that I don’t think you can explain to the American people,” Durbin added.
Blanche defends the settlement that granted Trump immunity from tax audits
Durbin pressed Blanche over a deal to end Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns. The Justice Department has faced intense scrutiny over part of the settlement that granted the president immunity from tax audits.
Blanche said such an agreement is “typical” in settlements like that one.
“Nobody is above the law,” Blanche told Durbin. “And when we enter the settlements like that … It doesn’t make any of those individuals above the law.”
Blanche says his heart ‘breaks’ for Epstein’s victims
Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat who is ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, repeatedly pressed Blanche about whether he would commit to meeting with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.
Durbin noted that 10 victims of Epstein were in the room for Blanche’s confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
“I appreciate them being here today,” Blanche said. “I have never said I wouldn’t meet with survivors.”
“I hope you would do it immediately, or we’re going to hold you to it,” Durbin said.
Blanche said he would be willing to prosecute “anyone who did any harm to any of these victims.”
“My heart breaks for every survivor,” he said.
Blanche defends DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files
Under questioning from the committee’s Republican chair, Blanche acknowledged that the Justice Department made redaction mistakes when reviewing and releasing millions of files related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation.
Blanche said he takes responsibility for the mistakes that were made, but also said department lawyers who reviewed the documents took pains to protect victims and quickly fixed any errors.
The fallout over the department’s handling of the Epstein files continues to plague the Trump administration.
Blanche said the administration has been “extraordinarily transparent” in releasing the files, despite the department agreeing to release more records only after Congress passed a law forcing it to do so.
‘We are restoring trust’ in the Justice Department, Blanche says
Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, alluded in his opening statement to the criminal cases brought against Trump in the last administration.
Blanche said that “in recent years, Americans watched the Justice Department turn against many of you and a former president, and it damaged the public’s faith in justice.”
He added: “We are fixing that.”
While the Trump administration has said it is determined to end the “weaponization” of law enforcement that it said occurred under the Biden administration, critics argue it has instead turned the agency into a tool of retribution against Trump’s political opponents.
The department under Trump has opened investigations or brought prosecutions against numerous foes of the president, including former FBI Director James Comey.
Blanche highlights the Justice Department’s shifting priorities under Trump
In his opening statement, Blanche touted the Trump administration’s efforts to lower violent crime, stem the flow of illicit drugs, prosecute dangerous cartels and take down fraudsters taking advantage of American taxpayers.
The Justice Department under Trump has moved aggressively to prioritize immigration enforcement and turn up the pressure on cartels. It also created a new division dedicated to tackling fraud in taxpayer-funded programs.
Florida senator highlights Blanche’s pre-Trump career
As a counter to Democrats’ narrative portraying Blanche as loyal only to Trump, Sen. Ashley Moody reminded the committee that the acting attorney general began his career at the Department of Justice as a paralegal.
Moody also detailed Blanche’s years with the Southern District of New York, where she said, “He prosecuted drug traffickers and violent criminals.” She also detailed various awards and commendations he received while in that role.
Watch these 2 Republicans on the committee
The stakes are high for Blanche, who needs the support of every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee for his nomination to advance.
Two of those Republicans — Sen. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn — haven’t committed to supporting him.
Tillis has been an outspoken critic of a $1.776 billion fund that the Trump administration created to compensate people who feel unjustly persecuted by the criminal justice system and then quickly withdrew.
Tillis and Cornyn are expected to grill Blanche over a separate element of the settlement that afforded Trump and members of his family protection from tax audits.
Durbin says Blanche still acts like Trump’s personal attorney
In his opening statement, Sen. Dick Durbin railed against actions taken by the Justice Department under Blanche’s watch, including a move to create a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the president.
The top Democrat on the committee also condemned the purging of Justice Department employees deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump and the department’s handling of millions of investigative files related to Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking investigation.
Durbin accused Blanche of still acting like Trump’s personal lawyer, pursuing investigations against the president’s foes while taking steps to aid his allies.
“In less than 18 months at the Department of Justice, you’ve shown you’re still President Trump’s personal attorney,” Durbin said.
Attorney general confirmation hearing getting underway
Blanche is expected to face bipartisan scrutiny as he seeks the chance to serve out the duration of Trump’s term.
Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, when Pam Bondi was fired after struggling to bring successful cases against Trump’s political foes.
Since taking the reins at the Justice Department, Blanche has accelerated investigations into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a maligned fund meant to compensate the president's allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an aggressive pursuit of news media leaks.
Blanche faces Senate scrutiny, with Republican support key to his confirmation as attorney general
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will confront questions Wednesday about his brief but turbulent tenure atop the Justice Department during a Senate confirmation hearing that will test President Donald Trump's grip on Republican lawmakers whose support the nominee will need for the job.
Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney, has run the department on an interim basis since April, during which time he's accelerated investigations into Trump foes, functioned as the public face of a maligned fund meant to compensate the Republican president's allies and alarmed press freedom advocates with an aggressive pursuit of news media leaks.
Those actions will receive fresh scrutiny at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing as Blanche testifies for the opportunity to serve out the duration of Trump’s term.
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