WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee has set confirmation hearings for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for mid-July, as several Republicans continue to weigh whether they will back his nomination.
President Donald Trump tapped Blanche to lead the Justice Department earlier this month, not long after Blanche clashed with Republican senators during a tense meeting over a proposed $1.776 billion settlement fund. Blanche later told lawmakers the fund would not proceed, but some GOP senators say they still want stronger guarantees before supporting him for the nation’s top law enforcement job.
“It’ll be an issue if the weaponization fund isn’t effectively dead by the confirmation hearing,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said. Tillis is viewed as a possible swing vote on the Judiciary Committee. “Because I still have a real problem with it being out there.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, another member of the panel, said Tuesday that he had met with Blanche but would wait until after the hearings to decide how he will vote. The confirmation proceedings are expected to take place July 15 and 16.
Trump dismissed his first attorney general, Pam Bondi, in April and then named Blanche acting attorney general. Before joining the administration, Blanche served as one of Trump’s personal attorneys. If every Democrat on the committee opposes the nomination, Blanche would need the support of all 12 Republican members of the Judiciary Committee to advance.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday that Blanche would receive a fair hearing. “If he comes to the floor, we’ll do everything we can to get him scheduled and voted on, and hopefully confirmed,” Thune said.
“We’ll let the process play out,” Thune said.
Blanche was on Capitol Hill meeting with senators Tuesday as he worked to shore up support.
Republicans seek assurances about fund
The questions over Blanche’s confirmation come at a time of heightened tensions between the Senate and the White House.
Blanche has been a public face of some of Trump’s most controversial actions, most recently the anti-weaponization fund that enraged many Republican senators.
The anger boiled over during a closed-door Senate meeting in May, when lawmakers confronted Blanche over the proposal. Sen. Ted Cruz later described it on his podcast as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.”
Blanche told a House panel this month that “we are not moving forward with the fund, period.” But Tillis and other Republicans have sought further guarantees that the settlement fund would not survive.
Cornyn said his meeting with Blanche on Tuesday was “positive” and that Blanche had promised an additional briefing on a provision of the IRS settlement that would grant Trump and his family immunity from IRS audits.
Path to confirmation is narrow
A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche played a lead on Trump’s defense team, including during the Republican president’s hush money trial in New York. Democrats and other critics have long accused him of still acting like Trump’s personal lawyer, particularly as the Justice Department pursues longtime Trump foes.
“Democrats are going to fight this confirmation with everything we have, and if Republicans have any respect for the rule of law, they’ll do the same,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The biggest test for Blanche’s nomination is expected to come in the committee. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., predicted Tuesday that Blanche would be confirmed but that it would be “tough.”
“Read the room,” Kennedy said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said he expects Blanche to be confirmed, pointing to the overwhelming Republican support he received when he was confirmed as deputy attorney general last year.
The hearings, however, will take place as the Senate races to clear a packed legislative agenda before its monthlong August recess. Among the unfinished business is legislation to restore a key foreign surveillance authority that lapsed last week.
Still, Grassley said he believes Blanche can be confirmed before senators leave town.
“I think we could easily get it done before the August break,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed.
