President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche, has yet to win over key Senate Republicans for his handling of the Justice Department’s canceled “anti-weaponization fund” and Jeffrey Epstein survivors.
Outgoing Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) remain noncommittal, either of whom could sink Blanche from advancing from the Senate Judiciary Committee in a vote expected next week. Sen. John Curtis (R-UT), who does not sit on the panel, is also a potential wild card.
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Cornyn and Tillis have expressed concerns about Blanche’s controversial settlement agreement as acting attorney general with Trump to create a $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund. The fund, which was scrapped amid bipartisan pushback, was eligible to make payments to Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol rioters, among others. Blanche is also Trump’s former personal criminal defense attorney.
Cornyn, ousted from reelection by Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a runoff primary, revealed his staff is in talks with the Trump administration and the DOJ to nullify the fund beyond Blanche’s verbal and written testimonies that it’s “dead.” Subsequent assurances from Blanche about the terms of the settlement agreement, which were reached after a lawsuit from Trump for a leak of his tax returns, have been “not good enough” for Cornyn.
“The weaponization provision is enforceable as a contract, even though [Blanche] said it doesn’t exist and it hadn’t been created,” Cornyn said. “The agreement says it can’t be changed, except by the parties, so that would have to be in writing.”
In a separate interview this week with reporters, Cornyn warned the administration “just can’t ignore this. It’s not going to go away.”
In written responses to additional questions from Judiciary Committee members, Blanche told Tillis 22 times it would be “inappropriate” to answer his questions on “internal deliberations” or “hypothetical communications” related to the fund, such as justification for it, how it would have been funded, or whether the decision not to move forward could be reversed at Trump’s request.
Tillis has also expressed a desire to receive a “debrief” from Epstein survivors who recently met with Blanche. They’re lobbying Blanche to prosecute people beyond the late child sex offender and his former longtime co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as investigate the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files release that included identifying information of victims. Blanche oversaw the release of the files.
“You can have meetings all day long. Good meetings are when you accomplish something,” Tillis said. “I want to hear both from both sides.”
Some Epstein survivors described the Blanche meeting as “insufficient.” More than two dozen of them released an open letter Tuesday lobbying Cornyn and Tillis to oppose Blanche’s confirmation following what they condemned as a “box-checking exercise” from the nominee.
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“Both of you have records of standing with survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault,” they wrote to the GOP duo. “A vote to confirm Todd Blanche would be a vote against those survivors.”
A vote to advance Blanche from the Judiciary Committee to the full Senate is expected July 30, followed by potential confirmation the first week of August before the upper chamber embarks on a monthlong recess. The panel’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), expressed optimism about Blanche’s ability to proceed with help from Tillis but did not address Cornyn’s outstanding reservations.