By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled confirmation hearings for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in mid-July, even as some Republicans remain undecided about whether to support him for the post.
President Donald Trump nominated Blanche to lead the Justice Department this month, shortly after Blanche sparred with Republican senators in a contentious meeting about a $1.776 billion settlement fund. Blanche later testified that the fund would not go forward. But some Republican senators say they want more assurances from Blanche before they vote to confirm him as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.
“It’ll be an issue if the weaponization fund isn’t effectively dead by the confirmation hearing,” said GOP Sen. Thom Tillis, a potential swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Because I still have a real problem with it being out there.”
Another member of the committee, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, said Tuesday he had met with Blanche but that he would not make a decision until after the confirmation hearings, which are expected on July 15 and 16.
Trump fired his first attorney general, Pam Bondi, in April, and elevated Blanche to be acting attorney general. Blanche, who worked as one of Trump’s personal lawyers before joining the administration, will need support from all 12 Republicans on the Judiciary panel for his nomination to move forward, if all Democrats vote against him.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday that Blanche will get a fair hearing, “and if he comes to the floor, we’ll do everything we can to get him scheduled and voted on, and hopefully confirmed.”
“We’ll let the process play out,” Thune said.
Blanche was on Capitol Hill meeting with senators Tuesday as he worked to shore up support.
Republicans seek assurances about fund
The questions over Blanche’s confirmation come at a time of heightened tensions between the Senate and the White House.
Blanche has been a public face of some of Trump’s most controversial actions, most recently the anti-weaponization fund that enraged many Republican senators.
The anger boiled over during a closed-door Senate meeting in May, when lawmakers confronted Blanche over the proposal. Sen. Ted Cruz later described it on his podcast as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.”
Blanche told a House panel this month that “we are not moving forward with the fund, period.” But Tillis and other Republicans have sought further guarantees that the settlement fund would not survive.
Cornyn said his meeting with Blanche on Tuesday was “positive” and that Blanche had promised an additional briefing on a provision of the IRS settlement that would grant Trump and his family immunity from IRS audits.
Path to confirmation is narrow
A former federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche played a lead on Trump’s defense team, including during the Republican president’s hush money trial in New York. Democrats and other critics have long accused him of still acting like Trump’s personal lawyer, particularly as the Justice Department pursues longtime Trump foes.
“Democrats are going to fight this confirmation with everything we have, and if Republicans have any respect for the rule of law, they’ll do the same,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.
The biggest test for Blanche’s nomination is expected to come in the committee. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., predicted Tuesday that Blanche would be confirmed but that it would be “tough.”
“Read the room,” Kennedy said.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said he expects Blanche to be confirmed, pointing to the overwhelming Republican support he received when he was confirmed as deputy attorney general last year.
The hearings, however, will take place as the Senate races to clear a packed legislative agenda before its monthlong August recess. Among the unfinished business is legislation to restore a key foreign surveillance authority that lapsed last week.
Still, Grassley said he believes Blanche can be confirmed before senators leave town.
“I think we could easily get it done before the August break,” he said.
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Associated Press writer Alanna Durkin Richer contributed.