President Donald Trump on Monday sent to the Senate the nomination of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to fill the role permanently, teeing up what could be a bruising confirmation process for a Trump ally who has drawn bipartisan criticism for recent Justice Department moves.
The president’s former defense attorney has pursued an aggressive agenda during his short tenure as the acting head of the department, including indictments against perceived political enemies of the president such as the Southern Poverty Law Center and former FBI Director James Comey.
Blanche has been tied to an array of rolling controversies at the Justice Department, including the handling of the release of Epstein files and now-scrapped plans to set up a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that critics say could be funneled to rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The idea for the fund was outlined as part of a settlement in the unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit that Trump brought against the IRS earlier this year, a scenario in which Trump sued the same federal government he oversees.
Democrats have also laced into Blanche for signing a memo, similarly tied to the settlement of the Trump lawsuit against the IRS, that outlined a sweeping pledge in which the IRS is “forever barred” from “examinations” against Trump, certain members of his family, the Trump Organization or “related or affiliated individuals.”
