Todd Blanche faces Day 2 of Senate hearings and undoubtedly important votes
Acting AG Todd Blanche faces tough confirmation hearing questions
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is facing scrutiny by the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearing. Officials are investigating Blanche over White House Justice Department independence, the Jeffrey Epstein investigation and allegations of election fraud. Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Yoo details the contentious session, highlighting the historic context of attorney general appointments and superpowers.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is headed for a second straight Senate bid, and his path to confirmation is still strewn with two key Republicans who are not tight-lipped about whether they will support him.
Blanche’s first day was filled with questions about the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) handling of millions of documents related to the late, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, known as the Epstein Files, the defunct anti-arms fund and how she will use the DOJ as a tool to retaliate against President Donald Trump.
The two Republicans on the committee who hold the key to Blanche’s success, Sens. Thom Tillis, RN.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, and so far, no one has committed to vote for him.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is sworn in during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Cornyn, who has opposed the nearly $1.8 billion anti-arms fund and the basic settlement reached by Trump and his family and the IRS, which Blanche acknowledged is “still working” but was noncommittal on how she would vote.
Cornyn, who has opposed the nearly $1.8 billion anti-weapon fund created under Trump’s IRS deal to compensate people who say they are victims of government “weapons,” which Blanche acknowledged are “still working” but not moving forward, was noncommittal about how he would vote.
“Well, I don’t know what other information is going to come in,” Cornyn said. “The hearing is not over yet. And, you know, I don’t need to make a decision now, so I don’t.”
Blanche took heat during the trial for being Trump’s former attorney, and she quickly corrected herself when asked by Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., if she considered herself a friend of the president.
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“I’m his attorney — I was his attorney, and now I’m the deputy attorney general,” Blanche said.
When asked about the slip, Cornyn said, “I think he’s trying to walk the line.”
“I think you’re trying to walk a very hard line,” he said.
Tillis’ main concern, like Cornyn’s, is the anti-arms fund and whether it is truly dead and gone.
He declined to say whether he would support Blanche, but noted that when asked if he was willing to work through the law to completely eliminate the fund, Blanche said, “Yes.”
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Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, leaves a meeting with Senate Republicans at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on June 4, 2026. (Kent Nishimura/AFP via Getty Images)
“I think that’s a strong indication that he and the management are OK [it],” said Tillis. “Does anyone really believe that the attorney general nominee can answer that question if he doesn’t think he has the support of the president to end this?”
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats on the panel held against him.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the top Democrat on the committee, asked Blanche about her handling of the release of the Epstein Files and whether she would meet with Epstein survivors.
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“Anyone who would represent a known liar like Donald Trump cannot have integrity,” Durbin said. “You cannot have integrity if you represent Donald Trump, because he is a liar who has never lied. And that person should never, ever, be attorney general.”
And Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., agreed that Blanche, “was qualified … as a former prosecutor.”
“But because of the legal background he has, he should have known better than to be willing to tolerate or support the shooting of the door,” said Coons. “Using it as a tool not to follow the facts and the law, to pursue justice, but to carry out President Trump’s vindictive agenda.”
