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Blanche faces fund doubts
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Justice Department, confronted skeptical questioning at a Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday about the creation of a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and a tax immunity deal for the president.
Blanche insisted the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which was scrapped after “fierce bipartisan backlash,” was “not moving forward,” but Republican Sen. John Cornyn pressed that the president had not agreed “in writing” to delete the weaponization fund.
Cornyn’s questions were closely watched because Blanche requires the backing of all Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, and the hearing arrived as the Justice Department faced “mass firings and resignations” that Democrats and other critics said hollowed out the workforce.
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware told Blanche, “You’re in charge of a Department of Justice I don’t recognize, prosecuting the president’s political enemies,” while Blanche argued he was fixing a politicized Justice Department he said he inherited.
The hearing also focused on the Justice Department’s release of files from the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation, with Blanche defending the department’s actions even as critics raised alarms about redactions and timing.
Epstein files and redactions
Blanche’s confirmation hearing also turned heavily on the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, after Congress mandated the release of millions of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and lawmakers criticized the “slow pace” and “extensive redactions.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley asked about “problematic redactions” and “insufficient effort” on investigative leads, while Blanche responded that the department reviewed “over six million pages” and said “approximately 1% of the redactions had to be fixed.”
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal pressed Blanche on whether he would “apologise” to Epstein survivors for “the mishandling and mistakes that were made by the United States Department of Justice?,” and Blanche replied, “I will absolutely say that any mistake that we made should not have been made.”
Blanche also faced questions about his relationship with Trump, with Sen. John N Kennedy asking if he was “friends” with Trump, and Blanche said, “I’m his lawyer - was his lawyer,” before adding, “And now I’m the deputy attorney general.”
Alongside Epstein, the hearing included scrutiny of the Justice Department’s approach to Trump’s IRS settlement, with Blanche insisting the anti-weaponization fund was dead even as lawmakers sought written confirmation that it could not be resurrected.
Narrow path and next risks
Blanche’s path to confirmation remained razor-thin after the death of South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, leaving 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee and making even a single Republican defection potentially fatal to the nomination.
Republicans’ uncertainty persisted as Cornyn told CNN he continues “to have some concerns” and said he is not “going to make any decisions at this point,” while Tillis indicated during questioning that he is likely to support Blanche even as he said he wanted “to stick a fork in this turkey of a 1776 fund.”
Democrats continued to frame the stakes as Justice Department independence, with Coons telling Blanche, “These are some actions that in your previous confirmation hearing before us, you said you would not take.”
The hearing also underscored that the IRS settlement’s immunity and the anti-weaponization fund remained central points of contention, with Blanche insisting the fund was “not moving forward” even as lawmakers argued the agreement could still be enforced.
As the confirmation vote approached, Blanche’s handling of the Epstein files and the IRS settlement were positioned in the sources as the core issues that could determine whether the Senate Judiciary Committee advances his nomination.
