Today’s Senate Confirmation Hearing For Todd Blanche wasn’t much fun for the Acting AG. Democratic Senators grilled him on Epstein, DOJ ethics, his relationship with President Trump, the J6 fund, and the most-asked question of all: Who would you be working for? The American people? Or Donald Trump?
Hint: It’s not us. 🤓
Blanche sat in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for nearly six hours, defending a record that Senate Democrats say should disqualify him for the job he really, really, really wants.
Blanche is not a career prosecutor. He was Donald Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney — the man seated beside him at the defense table — before Trump made him Deputy Attorney General.
When Pam Bondi left the department in April, Blanche stepped in as acting Attorney General.
Now Trump wants the arrangement made permanent.
The Democrats who questioned him built their case piece by piece. They pressed him on the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files — the missed release deadlines, and the records that went out with victims’ private information and photos left unredacted.
They pressed him on moving Ghislaine Maxwell to a lower-security prison camp after he personally sat down and interviewed her.
They pressed him on a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund created to cut checks to Trump’s allies (like the January 6 defendants soldiers), and on a tax settlement that shields Trump, his businesses, and his sons from accountability for past tax crimes.
A group of Epstein’s victims sat in the room behind him the entire time.
Ranking Member Dick Durbin asked Blanche to commit to meeting with ten of them within 30 days.
Blanche wavered, and offered them a staffer instead.
Underneath every question was the same one: who does this man actually work for?
The client of the U.S. Attorney General is the United States.
Democrats spent six hours trying to establish whether Blanche understands that — or whether he still believes his client is just one orange man.
They didn’t get the answer they wanted. In the end, the committee voted 12-10 to send his nomination to the full Senate, where Republicans hold 53 seats.
Senate Confirmation Hearing For Todd Blanche
Here’s what each senator said, in their own words.
Senator Cory Booker
Booker’s round is the one people are still sharing.
He went after Blanche’s personal sit-down with Ghislaine Maxwell and her transfer out of maximum security, the failure to redact survivors’ names from the Epstein files, and a dinner Blanche attended hosted by Paramount’s CEO while the Justice Department was reviewing the company’s merger bid.
His summary: this is a performance review, and you failed.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Senator Whitehouse — my personal favorite of the video clips — touched on several issues. He began with the Epstein files cover-up — focusing on 302 forms of an FBI interview with a woman claiming she was sexually and physically assaulted by Donald Trump when she was 13 or 14.
He then went into Epstein’s bank accounts, stating that some of them were associated with Russia.
Senator Whitehouse finished the Epstein section of his commentary by grilling Blanche on convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s transfer from a high-security prison to a “cushy Club Fed.”
Whitehouse also touched on the $1.776 billion weaponization fund. He lifted up a document, showing it to people in the gallery — It was the letter Blanche signed to satisfy Senators Tillis and Cornyn’s demand to end to the fund in writing.
He pointed out the obvious issue with the document, saying Blanche can end the “Weaponization fund” now and then next month create a “Trump Justice fund” for $1.9 billion.
Whitehouse also came with receipts from court. He walked through a federal judge’s finding of possible “fraud on the court” by the Justice Department in the IRS settlement case — a finding referred to the New York bar for discipline — alongside a collection of unusually blistering language from judges across the ideological spectrum describing DOJ conduct under Blanche.
Blanche called it cherry-picking.
Senator Adam Schiff
Schiff began his commentary with the words: Todd Blanche “should be rejected for five broad reasons…”
First: He has helped Trump use the presidency to enrich himself — namely by “settling with himself” in the $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS (a “fraud on the court”).
He held up the document Blanche presented over the weekend that rescinded the part of the settlement that formed a $1.776 billion “weaponization fund.”
However, the document did not rescind the broad tax immunity that protects Trump, members of his family, and their businesses from any investigation, audit, or tax liability.
Second: Blanche is helping Trump to go after his “enemies.” Schiff mentioned the DOJ’s attempt to indict the Democrats who created a video where they simply stated a fact, “members of the military can/must refuse illegal orders.”
Third: The Epstein files — the cover-up, release of a document with victims’ names unredacted (exposing the identities of survivors who did not want to come out to the public), putting them in danger.
The Acting AG also violated The Epstein Transparency Act. Many times.
Fourth: Blanche and Trump were going to give money to “cop beaters” (January 6th defendants).
Watch for my next article on the Trump cronies who already got paid by the DOJ — including Mike Flynn, who pled guilty and acknowledged that he did what he was being charged wth.
Shouldn’t an admission of guilt automatically make you ineligible for compensation — by showing that the government “weaponize” the criminal justice system against you, a person who admits they committed a crime?
Shouldn’t it?
Fifth: Blanche violated the Department of Justice code of ethics multiple times and “blatantly misled Congress.”
Schiff drilled into the tax settlement Blanche signed off on. He wanted to know whether the deal leaves Trump — and his sons, and his businesses — untouchable for past tax violations.
Blanche defended the tax immunity provision.
Schiff ended with a brief summary of his ‘five points,’ then ended with, “I urge a no vote on this confirmation, and I yield back.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Klobuchar asked a question that should have gotten a one-word response. Is it acceptable for federal agents to force their way into someone’s home without a warrant and drag them out into the street without confirming it’s the person they’re after?
Blanche said it depends on the circumstances.
Senator Dick Durbin
Durbin, the committee’s ranking Democrat, directed everyone’s attention to a group of women.
Epstein’s victims were seated in the room.
He asked Blanche to commit to meeting with ten of them within 30 days — and Blanche wouldn’t do it, offering them time with a staffer instead.
Senator Chris Coons
Coons was measured, and that made it worse for Blanche.
He pressed on the firing of thousands of FBI and Justice Department employees based on the cases they’d been assigned to.
He concluded his comments by stating that Blanche had not demonstrated enough distance between himself and the president to serve as a truly independent Attorney General.
The Result
The Senate Judicial Committee voted 12-10 to advance the nomination of Todd Blanche to the full Senate. 😖😠
