Blanche to testify today at Senate confirmation hearing for attorney general

• What: Todd Blanche testifies before Senate Judiciary Committee 
• Date: Wednesday, July 15, 2026
• Time: 9 a.m. ET
• Location: Capitol Hill
• Online stream: Live on CBS News 24/7

Several Republican senators have been critical of the Trump administration's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, which the Justice Department created as part of a deal with Mr. Trump to settle his $10 billion civil lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns by a former government contractor.

But Blanche is likely to face the sharpest questions from GOP Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas.

Tillis is not running for reelection and Cornyn lost his Senate primary runoff election to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won Mr. Trump's endorsement.

Still, Tillis told reporters Tuesday that heading into Blanche's confirmation hearing, he is inclined to back his nomination.

"If we're able to get through the 1776 and get-out-of-audit-free card, then I'm going to support him," Tillis said, referring to the $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund and settlement of the president's case against the IRS. "I feel like unless something comes up that I could point to that would rationally make me rethink my position, I'm going into the hearings with a lean yes."

Republicans control the majority of seats on the Judiciary panel, but the GOP's margins shrank with the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on Saturday night. 

While Graham's sister, Darline Graham, was appointed to serve the rest of the late senator's term, it's unclear whether she will fill his seats on the four committees on which Graham served, which include Judiciary.

Blanche himself predicted last week that he would field questions from senators about the "anti-weaponization" fund. The program was met with swift backlash from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle shortly after it was announced in May. Amid the fallout, Blanche told House members during a hearing last month that the Justice Department was "not moving forward" with the fund.

But he declined to put that commitment in writing, and the Justice Department rebuffed a federal judge's request for Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to sign a sworn declaration attesting to the status of the $1.8 billion fund.

Then, on Monday, a federal judge in Miami issued a scathing rebuke of Mr. Trump, his lawyers and the Justice Department over their conduct related to the president's civil lawsuit against the IRS and subsequent settlement. As part of that deal, Blanche signed an order effectively granting Mr. Trump, his older sons and his companies immunity from future tax claims and actions arising out of "lawfare and/or weaponization."

In citing the broad release order signed by Blanche, the judge, Kathleen Williams, questioned whether he violated ethical standards governing conflicts of interest and directed a copy of her order to be mailed to the State Bar of New York, of which Blanche is a member.

Williams also accused the Justice Department of "abdicating its responsibility to zealously defend the interests of the United States" and said that by entering into the settlement with Mr. Trump, the government "disregarded DOJ policies, and accomplished objectives beyond those authorized, as well as those specifically prohibited, by law."

Prior to Pam Bondi's departure from the Justice Department, Blanche served as deputy attorney general, where he oversaw the day-to-day operations of the department. He was deeply involved in the first wave of controversial charging decisions in line with President Trump's political priorities, the department's handling of the Epstein files and the mass firings and resignations of department employees.

In a letter earlier this month to the Senate Judiciary Committee, more than 1,200 former Justice Department employees with the group Justice Connection urged the committee to vote against Blanche's confirmation.

"Blanche has fired or overseen the firings of hundreds of these employees — usually without notice, and for improper, unlawful reasons," the letter says. "Some were terminated for having worked on cases the President didn't like; for being relatives of the President's foes; for adjudicating immigration cases in accordance with due process; for declining to initiate vindictive prosecutions; or for refusing to lie in court. These terminations violate the very civil service statutes designed to prevent corruption and political purges."

In response to the letter, Blanche criticized many of those who signed it for having "worked with [former special counsel] Jack Smith."

"The fact that there are a group of individuals out there that do not want me to be attorney general is OK with me," Blanche said in an interview with Alaska's News Source after the letter's publication. 

Blanche is also likely to face questions about federal prosecutions and investigations of former and current officials who the president often attacks — specifically former FBI Director James Comey, New York Attorney General Letitia James and former CIA Director John Brennan.

Brennan has been the focus of two Justice Department probes since Mr. Trump returned to the presidency for a second term.

Comey was indicted last year on two counts relating to congressional testimony he gave in September 2020, and James faced criminal charges of bank fraud and lying to a financial institution. Both indictments were sought by Lindsey Halligan, who served as a personal lawyer to Mr. Trump and went on to work in his White House last year. 

But the criminal cases against Comey and James were tossed out in November after a judge ruled that Halligan had been unlawfully appointed interim U.S. attorney. The Justice Department is appealing that decision.

Comey, however, was indicted again in April, this time for allegedly making threats against the president. The case stems from a photo Comey posted to Instagram last year, which showed seashells arranged in the sand to form the numbers "86 47."

Prosecutors claimed that a "reasonable recipient" would interpret the shells "as a serious expression of an intent to do harm" to Mr. Trump.

Comey has denied any wrongdoing and is set to be arraigned in September.

Blanche first worked at the Justice Department early in his legal career, serving as a paralegal while attending Brooklyn Law School, where he earned his law degree in 2003. He clerked for two federal judges in New York, and then was hired to work as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.

From there, Blanche joined the law firm WilmerHale in New York, which is one of the four firms that Mr. Trump has targeted through executive orders.

Blanche then worked at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft until 2023, when he started his own firm, Blanche Law, and led the team defending Mr. Trump against 34 state felony charges in New York related to a "hush money" payment made to an adult film star in the final days of the 2016 election. The president was convicted on all counts in 2024 and has appealed his conviction.

Mr. Trump selected Blanche for deputy attorney general in his second administration, and he was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 52 to 46. Blanche took the helm of the Justice Department as acting attorney general following Bondi's removal in April.

In a Truth Social post Tuesday calling on all GOP senators to confirm his pick, Mr. Trump called Blanche "a great lawyer" and "always very fair."

"When the Corrupt Biden 'Injustice' Department and Radical Left Prosecutors tried to throw me in jail, and interfered in our Historic 2024 Presidential Campaign, Todd stood by my side and fought off the Lawfare," Mr. Trump added.