Senate Judiciary Committee approves Blanche’s nomination for attorney general

US admin August 4, 2026 0 Comments

Senate Judiciary Committee approves Blanche’s nomination for attorney general

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday advanced Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general to the Senate on a party-line vote, after he managed to assuage concerns of two key Republican committee members about President Donald Trump’s so-called anti-weaponization fund.

Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, criticized Blanche in his opening statement at the meeting, saying he has “aided and abetted the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States.” Blanche, he said, “continues to operate as the president’s personal lawyer, treating the Justice Department like a law firm serving one client: the president.”

Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina overcame their misgivings about Blanche over Trump’s deal with the Internal Revenue Service to settle the president’s lawsuit against the agency. The deal, orchestrated by the Justice Department, offered tax audit immunity to Trump and his family and initially included a $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund to compensate people who claim to have been unfairly prosecuted by the federal government.

Blanche repeatedly declared that the fund was “dead” but refused to commit to formally rescinding it. The DOJ also resisted repeated calls from Cornyn and Tillis to put changes to the IRS deal in writing as a condition for their support for Blanche.

With the narrow GOP majority on the committee, Blanche could not afford to lose a single Republican vote. His nomination appeared to be in peril over an extended dispute with the two Republican senators about the settlement, which resulted in the postponement of a July 30 committee vote.

Blanche issued a formal order terminating the fund late on Sunday, which Cornyn and Tillis declared was sufficient, despite the scope of the documents seeming to fall short of their demands.

In his remarks before the vote, Durbin addressed the settlement deal, accusing Blanche of lying under oath when he denied telling the senator, prior to his confirmation hearing, that he made a mistake by setting up the fund.

“Mr. Blanche’s willingness to casually lie under oath about a statement he made in a room full of witnesses shows the lengths he will go to to avoid offending President Trump,” Durbin said.

Blanche sat before the committee for a difficult confirmation hearing in mid-July, when he was grilled on the IRS deal, his handling of the DOJ’s release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and the prosecution of prominent officials whom Trump considers his enemies. The committee also heard testimony from outside witnesses, including a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, Dani Bensky, who has publicly criticized of Blanche’s handling of the Epstein files release.

After the hearing, Tillis said his support for Blanche would hinge on whether the acting attorney general meets survivors of Jeffrey Epstein, which Blanche promptly agreed to do afterward. The women, however, said later that he was condescending and that he had insisted he was powerless to open any investigations. Bensky told reporters that Blanche “actually said the words, ‘get to the point’ to us” during the meeting.

Blanche’s nomination now goes to a vote before the full Senate, where Republicans also hold a slim majority.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.