Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended his involvement in a $1.8 billion “weaponization” compensation fund at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday in his bid for the top Justice Department job.
Over the course of the hearing, Blanche sparred with Democrats and pushed back on concerns from some Republicans about his time serving as deputy attorney general over the last 15 months.
Many of the questions focused on a May settlement between President Donald Trump and his own administration that created a $1.8 billion compensation fund and provided Trump and family members with immunity from tax audits for years prior to the settlement.
The questions came as two Republicans on the panel — Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — have withheld their support pending questions about the settlement and Blanche’s tenure at DOJ.
Blanche announced the fund in May as part of settling Trump’s $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service tied to the release of his tax returns during his first term in office.
