Todd Blanche faced questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee this week for his confirmation hearing to become U.S. attorney general. Lawmakers pressed Blanche about many issues we’ve also been seeking answers about — including his loyalty to President Donald Trump, his involvement in the Justice Department’s controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” and his handling of investigative files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Multiple senators have said they still have concerns about Blanche after the hearing.
We are fighting to reveal as much as possible about Blanche’s conduct at DOJ so far, including whether he has already used his roles to shield Trump from scrutiny. This week, we released emails from DOJ — first reported on by the New York Times — that show Blanche oversaw the Justice Department’s Weaponization Working Group, assigning senior DOJ officials to politically charged investigations and convening recurring meetings to monitor the group’s work.
During the hearing, lawmakers questioned Blanche about whether DOJ purposely redacted names of powerful people connected to Epstein from the files. Reporting has suggested that documents mentioning Trump were withheld from release, even though the Epstein Files Transparency Act prohibits shielding individuals from scrutiny including for “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.” As deputy attorney general, Blanche allegedly played a central role in the department’s review of these records, so we filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for Blanche’s texts and emails about DOJ’s review of investigative files related to Epstein, including about redactions. We also have an active lawsuit for additional records related to this review.
And, especially after Trump’s claims about elections during last night’s speech, we need to know whether Blanche was involved in the decision to permanently seal portions of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s report on the federal investigations into Trump’s 2020 election efforts and hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Special Counsel Smith has said he uncovered “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” that Trump unlawfully attempted to overturn the 2020 election, as well as “powerful evidence” that the president willfully retained highly classified documents after leaving office. But portions of this final report were blocked from release. We filed FOIA requests for Blanche’s related emails and text messages, which could shed light on any involvement he may have had in those decisions.
The public needs to know if Blanche is capable of serving as the nation’s top law enforcement officer with the kind of impartiality that Americans need and deserve, or if he will continue to think of himself as the president’s lawyer.
