“In less than 18 months, the Department of Justice has shown that you are still President Trump’s personal lawyer,” said Senator Dick Durbin, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, in his opening statement during the nearly five-hour hearing.
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“This country deserves an Attorney General who loves the Constitution more than any one president,” Durbin said.
“An Attorney General focused on ensuring America’s security and fighting corruption, not on satisfying the president’s personal grievances,” he added.
T. Blanche, serving as Attorney General since April when Pam Bondi was dismissed, defended his record, although he stumbled when asked if he and D. Trump are “friends.”
“I am his lawyer,” T. Blanche replied, then corrected himself saying: “I was his lawyer.”
Democratic Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Coons criticized T. Blanche for firing hundreds of career Department of Justice and FBI employees who were considered insufficiently loyal to the Republican president.
“You fired every prosecutor who worked on a case related to Trump,” Whitehouse said.
Coons stated that T. Blanche “persecuted the president’s political enemies and fired rank-and-file prosecutors and FBI agents because of the cases assigned to them.”
T. Blanche pushed back on the criticism, calling Whitehouse’s questions unacceptable and accusing him of lying about his tenure at the department.
Former federal prosecutor T. Blanche is closely linked to what Democrats called the president’s revenge campaign against alleged political enemies.
Among those targeted by T. Blanche is former FBI Director James Comey, known as an outspoken critic of D. Trump. In April, charges were filed against J. Comey for an alleged threat to D. Trump’s life in an Instagram post.
T. Blanche was also questioned about a $1.8 billion fund (about €1.7 billion) intended to compensate D. Trump’s political allies, which Democrats condemned as opaque.
He reiterated previous statements that the fund idea has already been abandoned.
However, he defended an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service that protects D. Trump and his sons from audits of previous tax returns. On Monday, a federal judge overturned this agreement.
“Phenomenal work”
T. Blanche also faced criticism from Jeffrey Epstein’s victims over how he handled the release of investigative materials about the convicted sex offender, a former close friend of D. Trump.
He said charges will be filed against all individuals connected to J. Epstein if there is sufficient basis.
“If today, next week, or next month we learn that there is a person we can investigate, charge, and prosecute based on Epstein case materials, you can be sure – we will do it,” T. Blanche said.
Several of J. Epstein’s victims, who died in prison in 2019 awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, watched T. Blanche’s Senate appearance from the public gallery.
D. Trump defended T. Blanche on Tuesday on the social network “Truth Social,” saying he did “phenomenal work” as Attorney General.
He urged “every Republican senator” to vote for him.
One Republican vote “against” in the committee could be enough to block the 51-year-old T. Blanche’s appointment as the top U.S. law enforcement official.
However, two Senate committee Republicans considered potential opponents – retiring Senator Thomas Tillis and Senator John Cornyn, who lost the primary after D. Trump supported his opponent – appeared inclined to vote for confirmation.
If the committee approves T. Blanche’s nomination, it will be submitted for a vote by the full Senate, where Republicans hold the majority.
Before joining the Department of Justice, T. Blanche represented D. Trump in a New York court case over possible “hush money” paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
He was also part of the legal defense team in two federal cases brought against D. Trump by special prosecutor Jack Smith – concerning alleged mishandling of classified documents and attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Both cases were dropped after D. Trump won the 2024 presidential election.
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