Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced a tough confirmation hearing on Wednesday as lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled him on a variety of topics.
Blanche, formally President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, stands as Trump’s nominee to formally serve as the next attorney general. CNN notes that the confirmation hearing ahead of the committee is particularly tight now with the recent, untimely death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), giving Blanche “a razor-thin margin of error.”
Blanche stated during the hearing that his team is “restoring trust” in the Justice Department, previously led by former Attorney General Pam Bondi. Blanche has been serving as the acting attorney general since April.
He faced a mountain of questions on controversial topics throughout the hearing, including the handling of the Epstein files — a major criticism of the department under Bondi’s lead.
“The Biden administration did nothing to be transparent about the Epstein case,” Blanche said. “We have been extraordinarily transparent in not only producing the records, but letting unredacted versions be available to anybody in this body. And if, after reviewing unredacted materials, a member had concerns about why something was redacted, they brought them to the department’s attention, and we addressed that.”
During the line of questioning, Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) also addressed criticisms of Trump nominating Blanche given his status as the president’s former attorney. It is not unusual, Kennedy demonstrated, for presidents to select people they like — friends and family, even — for this position.
“Have you ever seen a president of the United States appoint an enemy to be attorney general?” Kennedy asked.
“I have not,” Blanche said.
“Usually, they appoint their qualified friends, don’t they?” the senator pressed, to which Blanche agreed.
“I mean, one president appointed his brother, right?” Kennedy noted.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) also asked about the controversial “anti-weaponization” fund aimed to compensate individuals unfairly investigated by the government during the Biden years. The fund was created out of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
“It is a moot issue, meaning there is no weaponization fund. The weaponization fund is dead. It’s not moving forward,” Blanche said, later adding, “The settlement fund is just not moving forward.”
“There’s not — there’s no modification. It’s just it never started. No money went from the treasury to any other account. There’s no commissioners. It’s not moving forward,” he emphasized.
Blanche also defended FBI Director Kash Patel during the hearing, criticizing the “extraordinarily obnoxious” question from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
“How long do you intend to put up with that Kash Patel character? Are you good with his airplane jaunts? Are you confident he’s not drinking on the job? Are you sure none of his travel is pretext for vacation activities like visiting girlfriends? Are you sure he knows what he’s doing? Are you willing to look at whether he lied to this committee?” Whitehouse asked.
“That is an extraordinarily obnoxious question, senator. I have full faith in Director Patel and the work he’s doing every day,” Blanche responded.
Additionally, Blanche pointed to the department’s crackdown on fraud, which he said would continue under his leadership.
“Billions and billions, we’ve already collected in just the past couple of months,” he said. “That effort is going to go forward for as long as I am in the position that I am in now.”
