Inside Todd Blanche’s high-wire confirmation act
Todd Blanche’s effort to permanently become Attorney General was never going to be easy. But in many ways, the thing responsible for his potential ascent is also his greatest liability: President Donald Trump.
Most of the questions Blanche will face Wednesday will either directly or indirectly deal with Trump. Senators from both parties have suggested they plan to ask about Jan. 6, 2021, the botched release of the Epstein files, the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” slush fund, and a host of issues related to the president and his personal pursuit of — in his words — “justice.”
Blanche will have to balance answering those questions to the satisfaction of reluctant Republicans while also not angering a president whose favor can be fickle and demands for devotion can be absolute.
Wednesday morning’s kick off to this latest confirmation battle will therefore be a political high-wire act — and Democrats have signaled they intend to make Blanche’s path as difficult as possible.
“It’s gonna be a wide-open session tomorrow,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters on Tuesday.
While the committee is stacked with several Trump loyalists, there’s one fewer GOP vote after the sudden death of Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C. It’s not yet clear who — if anyone — will fill that chair before the panel votes on Blanche.
But the committee also includes several Republicans inclined to act out against the administration — or, at least, speak out before ultimately falling in line.
Sen. Thom Tillis is chief among those skeptical Republicans, with the North Carolina senator long viewing certain Jan. 6 opinions as a red line.
If Democrats can get Blanche to say the wrong thing about that day or its aftermath, his comments may jeopardize Tillis’ support.
Asked what he wanted to hear from Blanche, Tillis said plainly, “that the 1776 fund is dead,” referring to the $1.776 billion DOJ-created slush fund.
While Blanche has tried to offer such guarantees before — in a less than definitive way that also seems definitive — Trump and the Department of Justice continue to leave the door open to the fund’s revival.
“I have to be certain that there cannot be a dime paid out,” Tillis said. “And under oath, I want to hear that he or any other AG-nom would agree that they would have to step back before they can make a payment out of it.”
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told MS NOW his vote for Blanche also wasn’t settled heading into Wednesday’s hearing.
“I have some questions — you’ll see,” he said Monday.
The Louisiana senator has pressed other Trump officials, like Blanche’s predecessor Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, for more transparency around the Epstein files. And he’s questioned the DOJ’s manner of releasing the documents.
Durbin said that Epstein survivors will be in the audience at Wednesday’s hearing, and Dani Bensky, an Epstein survivor, is set to testify about Blanche before the committee on Thursday.
Another Republican to watch is Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. Cornyn lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger in May, and he’s shown a bit more willingness to speak out ever since.
When MS NOW asked Cornyn what he plans to press Blanche on, the longtime Judiciary member said we’d have to “wait and listen.”
But he assured reporters that his vote for Blanche was not guaranteed.
“I’m not gonna make a decision until after the hearing,” he said.
The Texas Republican added that there was a way for Blanche to earn his vote on Tuesday. But things could go in the opposite direction, too.
“He could also lose it,” Cornyn said.
Every question will matter — and every vote will count.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is typically split between 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, but with the Graham vacancy, the GOP is down to 11 seats. If one Republican were to vote against advancing Blanche to the floor, his nomination could stall in committee.
Democrats, meanwhile, are planning to press Blanche on a litany of issues — largely the thorny matters that relate back to Trump.
“We each have 10 minutes to ask questions, and I’m sure — I met with my colleagues, Democratic colleagues, yesterday, talking about procedure,” Durbin said. “I know they’re preparing for it.”
Durbin was fresh off of a meeting with Blanche on Tuesday — his second one — during which they discussed the anti-weaponization fund, the IRS settlement that shields Trump and his family members from investigations by the agency, the Epstein files, the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum-security prison and his investment in cryptocurrency, among other topics.
On the anti-weaponization fund, Durbin said Blanche told him “what more can I do, what more can I say, I made a mistake, I don’t want to see the weaponization fund go forward.”
Looming over all these issues, however, is the independence — or lack thereof — that Blanche will bring to the job of attorney general.
After years serving as the president’s personal attorney, senators in both parties are concerned Blanche may see his job in a similar light.
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Asked if he’s confident Blanche will serve as a traditional attorney general and not Trump’s personal lawyer, Durbin wasn’t very hopeful.
“He’s Trump’s attorney,” he said.
“I have a period of worry that starts today, ends two years and six months,” Durbin added. “Terrible things seem to be happening almost every single day, and I don’t know that he’s made any promise or any suggestion that he’s trying to change the president’s methods or purpose.”
Even if Blanche does make it to the full Senate after Wednesday’s hearing, his confirmation on the floor is no sure thing.
With Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., unlikely to return to the Capitol in the near future, Republicans are down to 52 GOP senators to 47 Democrats — a tighter margin than usual. And some GOP senators in the conference remain unconvinced by Blanche.
“I’m interested in a wide-variety of issues,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Tuesday.
She noted that while Blanche has deemed the anti-weaponization fund over, Trump has spoken positively about it since, telling reporters it’s “beautiful” and “so important” and adding that “I love it.”
“Obviously I think we still need some clarity on the anti-weaponization fund,” Collins said. “It seems like he’s been very clear, but then the president seems to still be interested in it. So I’m sure that’ll come up tomorrow.”
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also said she had questions about the IRS settlement, especially in the wake of a federal judge’s ruling this week that it was filed for an “improper purpose.”
“I think it will certainly raise a lot more questions in his confirmation hearing, going specifically to what the judge has suggested, that the settlement itself was without merit,” she said. “We’ll see how he responds tomorrow.”
Murkowski also remarked on Blanche’s preview tenure as Trump’s personal attorney, and how that could influence his work as attorney general.
“He comes to the position with the background that he has,” Murkowski said, “but for me, it’s really kind of important that you be able to make that kind of separation.”
“He’s really gonna have to establish that in the hearing,” she added.
Asked if she’s undecided, Murkowski said she has follow-up questions for Blanche after they met last month — and after he visited Alaska during recess.
“I got my work to do,” she said.
Reminders of the hurdles in Blanche’s path were clear even before the gavel fell Wednesday.
Letters urging senators to reject his nomination came in from an array of sources, including House Oversight Ranking Member Robert Garcia, who cited the DOJ’s Epstein files roll out as confirmation that “his only loyalty is to President Trump,” and the New York City Bar Association, who told lawmakers they believe “Mr. Blanche has taken actions that we believe make him unfit to lead an ethical and independent Department of Justice that is essential to our nation’s democracy.”
Lawmakers, meanwhile, will be watching closely to see how Wednesday’s hearing goes and how the vote shakes out. And Republicans assured reporters that their votes were no sure thing.
Asked if his vote was baked-in, Kennedy told reporters “no ma’am,” before turning to one of his favorite metaphors: Happy hour at an airport Chili’s.
“Nothing’s settled around here,” Kennedy said. “It’s still happy hour.”
Jack Fitzpatrick contributed to this report.
Ali Vitali is MS NOW’s senior congressional correspondent and the host of “Way Too Early.” She is the author of “Electable: Why America Hasn’t Put a Woman in the White House … Yet.”
