Senators Press Blanche on Epstein, Trump Ties, Weaponization Fund in Attorney General Confirmation Hearing

During Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing to be attorney general, Democrats focused heavily on his ties to President Donald Trump as his personal lawyer and on Jeffrey Epstein cases.

Jeffrey Epstein, who died in a New York prison cell in 2019 after an arrest for federal trafficking charges, had connections with high-profile people including Trump and former President Bill Clinton. He also pleaded guilty in Florida state courts to solicitation of prostitution of a minor. The Justice Department is still investigating trafficking cases involving Epstein, and in December 2025 began publishing records on the deceased convict.

Several Democrat senators on Wednesday asked Blanche if he would meet with Epstein victims, some of whom attended the hearing.

“You’d agree with me, wouldn’t you, then, you can well meet with any of the survivors or victims, with their counsel present?” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked.

“I never said that I would not meet with them. I said, if they were represented, I could meet with them through counsel,” Blanche said. “Of course, I can meet with them. I’m the acting attorney general of the United States. I very strongly believe that for these victims to tell their stories and the evidence they have, they should meet, like any victim of a crime, with the FBI, or a law enforcement agent, and that we will do everything we can do to prosecute it if we can.”

Blanche, who was confirmed as deputy attorney general in 2025, became the acting attorney general in April after the president fired Pam Bondi, the first attorney general of Trump’s second term. The president in June officially nominated Blanche for the top Justice Department post.

Numerous Democrats on the committee also mentioned Blanche’s time as Trump’s defense lawyer, asserting that Blanche would prioritize loyalty to Trump above enforcing the law.

However, Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., referenced former President John F. Kennedy, who appointed his brother, Robert F. Kennedy Sr., as attorney general. He said a president typically appoints allies to the post.

“Are you and President Trump friends?” the Louisiana senator asked.

Blanche replied: “I’m his lawyer — was his lawyer, then the deputy attorney general. So I met him as his criminal defense attorney.”

Kennedy followed, “Are you enemies?” Blanche replied they were not, to which Kennedy asked, “Have you ever seen a president of the United States appoint an enemy attorney general?”

Blanche replied, “I have not.”

Blanche later noted his career as a federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, and said he represented Trump for two years while also representing numerous other clients.

One of the tense moments in the hearing occurred when Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., took shots at FBI Director Kash Patel.

“Let me ask about the FBI. How long do you intend to put up with that Kash Patel character? Are you good with these airplane jaunts? Are you confident he’s not drinking on the job? Are you sure none of his travel is a pretext for vacation activities like snorkeling Olympics and visiting girlfriends? Are you sure he knows what he’s doing?” Whitehouse asked. “Do you vouch for him?”

Blanche responded, “That’s an extraordinarily obnoxious question, senator, and I have full faith in Director Patel and the work that he’s doing every day. Great. Got to own that.”

Blanche discussed the administration’s focus on election integrity in response to a question by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

Klobuchar asked about the Justice Department lawsuits seeking voter registration data from more than two dozen states.

“The DOJ has carried out a campaign to push states to turn over voters’ sensitive and private data to the administration,” Klobuchar said. “Thirty states, including Republican-led states like Georgia and West Virginia, have refused.” She added that 15 federal courts ruled against the Justice Department in favor of states.

“Could you discuss how cutting off anti-terrorism funding to states that refuse something that 15 federal courts have found to be illegal enhances our national security?” Klobuchar asked.

Blanche defended the Justice Department’s effort, but said he can’t speak to individual cases in pending litigation.

“Election integrity is extraordinarily important to this administration,” Blanche said. “It’s important to this body, and so, to the extent that the work that we’re doing is to make sure that we have fair and honest elections, that the only people voting are the people who are eligible to vote, and that they’re only voting once, that’s important.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who recently lost his primary and is considered a key vote for Blanche’s confirmation, seemed skeptical about whether a controversial fund to pay victims of government weaponization is dead. A settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service created the fund in May, which would pay out $1.776 billion to victims of government weaponization. The DOJ eventually dropped the fund after a court blocked it, and earlier this week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida blocked the settlement.

Cornyn referred to the wording of the settlement agreement that said it can only be modified, “upon the written agreement of the parties.”

“Has there been a written agreement of the parties to modify the settlement fund?” Cornyn followed.

“It’s just, it never started,” Blanche said of the weaponization fund.

Cornyn pressed, “Is the settlement agreement enforceable as a contract by the parties?”

Blanche said, “I suppose if President Trump’s counsel sought to enforce it, that they potentially could. … They could potentially say that, I suppose, that we breached by not moving forward. They haven’t done that, and I’m not aware that they’re planning on doing that.”