Blanche Testifies of Hopes to ‘Keep America Safe’ While Democrats Hammer Him Over Trump Loyalty

While the Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, championed the progress the Department of Justice has made in recent months during his Senate confirmation hearing, such as the prosecution of drug dealers, illegal aliens, foreign terrorist organizations, and fraudsters, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee used their time to hammer him for being loyal to President Donald Trump.

Blanche’s Testimony

“I spent nine years prosecuting violent gangs and drug dealers. I rose through the ranks of the Department of Justice as a line prosecutor, then acting Attorney General. But I did not take that path for a title, I took it to make a difference for American families and the towns they call home.”

“My family’s blessing should be available to all Americans. When a family can send their kids to school, walk their neighborhoods after dark, every promise of the American dream is within reach,” Blanche said.

“We are keeping America safe,” Blanche continued. “Murders are down roughly 20% nationwide, and we have the lowest murder rate since 1900. Violent crime arrests increased by nearly 114%. We’ve taken almost 5,00 child predators and human traffickers. The DOJ has filed nearly 100,000 indictments since January of 2025.”

During his testimony, Blanche continued to tout the historic achievements the department has accomplished since Trump assumed office for the second time in January of 2025.

“In just the last months, we’ve paid $90 million in claims to eligible surviving families of fallen public safety officers,” Blanche continued. “If you look at Washington and Memphis as examples, where we have worked with state and local partners, pulling thousands of criminals off the streets, homicides are down in DC up to 50%, and overall crimes in Memphis are down by over 40%. We’ve seized thousands of illegal guns and cleaned up parks and spaces families have avoided.

“We are enforcing our borders, we are prosecuting the smugglers who profited from our open borders. We’re removing illegal aliens, we’re smashing the cartels, and the scourge of drugs in our communities,” he added.

“We designated the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations because that is what they are,” he said, referring to the numerous designated cartel members that have been apprehended and prosecuted at home and abroad, including Venezuela’s former President Nicolas Maduro.

Blanche attributed these efforts to the historic decline in drug overdoses being witnessed in the United States.

Blanche also cited the largest fraud takedown, which began in Minneapolis in December of 2025.

“Drug seizures are skyrocketing, and overdose deaths are finally falling. We are protecting taxpayers.”

“I’m proud of what we’ve done to help American families see safer streets, and none of this is a Republican or Democrat issue. We are keeping America safe, and we are just getting started.”

J6 and Tax Returns

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., used his time after Blanche’s testimony to question the acting attorney general on why he didn’t “twist the president’s arm” for pardoning January 6 protesters, who the senator stated, “attacked the Capitol.”

“The Constitution gives the president full power to pardon,” Blanche responded.

Durbin then moved to talk on the president’s tax returns, accusing Blanche of wanting to prosecute the individual who illegally leaked the president and his family’s tax returns.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, defended Blanche and said that the tax returns were unlawfully released in 2020. However, the senator noted that the lawsuit against the individual was not filed until Blanche took office, then questioned if Blanche filed the lawsuit as a favor to the president.

The acting attorney general responded by adding that the lawsuit against the individual was filed not because it was a favor to the president, but because the individual broke the law.

Later in the hearing, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Conn., took aim at some of the president’s other appointees and asked if Blanche would hold them accountable.

“How long are you going to put up with this Kash Patel?”, Whitehouse said. “Are you going to make sure he’s not drinking on the job?

“That’s an extraordinarily obnoxious question,” Blanche responded.

Conservative Defense

Prior to Blanche’s statements, Sen. Ashley Moody, R-Fla., highlighted the former prosecutor’s accomplishments in building a career defending the United States against dangerous drug dealers and violent criminals, which Moody noted, “caught the attention of the president.”

After the testimony, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., added that “no fair-minded person could conclude that you are not qualified, so the opposition of my Democrat colleagues has to be based on something else.”

He then asked Blanche if he is friends with the president, to which the acting attorney general responded “yes.”

“Will a president appoint his enemy?,” Kennedy asked rhetorically.

The senator then asked Blanche whether he was “responsible for all the president’s decisions?” to highlight that Blanche is not responsible for the president’s executive decisions, which the Democrats touted during the hearing.