Topline
Todd Blanche, a former defense lawyer for President Donald Trump, was confirmed as attorney general in the early hours of Saturday morning after making two major concessions to please Senate Republicans who’d expressed doubt about his ability to impartially do the job, but his deals aren’t necessarily as ironclad as the confirmation hearing made them seem.
Key Facts
Under pressure from Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Blanche promised in writing to kill a Trump-proposed $1.8 billion legal slush fund for the president’s allies.
Blanche’s letter purports to rescind the so-called “anti-weaponization” fund that would have compensated people who alleged they were unfairly targeted or mistreated by federal law enforcement, including defendants prosecuted in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack.
But, as explained by the National Review Institute, the Justice Department administrative order isn’t ironclad and leaves wide open a backdoor for Trump to file a breach of contract lawsuit keeping the fund alive, though such a move would be politically difficult to execute.
Blanche also agreed to narrow the scope of tax protections provided to the Trump family in an IRS settlement that granted them broad immunity from future federal tax audits and investigations.
He vowed the agreement will only cover the past tax matters specified in the litigation and does not insulate the Trump family or its businesses from future IRS audits or enforcement actions.
But it’s unclear exactly how enforceable Blanche’s promise will be because the underlying IRS lawsuit settlement remains a formal contract filed in federal court, and changing a settlement’s terms requires a written amendment signed by all parties—which would include Trump and his sons.
Trump’s personal legal team hasn’t filed to modify the original settlement language and as long as the document retains its original text, the plaintiffs could theoretically argue in court that the official language takes precedence over internal DOJ policy statements.
CHIEF CRITICS
Blanche’s appointment to attorney general exposed deep concerns, including from Republicans, that the hiring of a personal Trump ally will threaten the historic independence of the Justice Department from the White House. He’s been slammed by senators, representatives and outside critics, including Jeffrey Epstein survivor Annie Farmer who spoke to the Senate regarding the DOJ’s handling of unredacted victim information in released Epstein case files. She urged senators to reject his confirmation, saying she found Blanche to be “abrasive” and “condescending,” and describing his outreach to abuse survivors as a “check-the-box exercise” designed to secure confirmation votes. Skye Perryman, president of the legal watchdog group Democracy Forward that sued over the DOJ’s anti-weaponization fund, criticized the Blanche concessions as non-court-enforceable. She said the DOJ and Blanche “want to have their cake and eat it too,” and accused him of seeking to “preserve favor with the president through refusing to make real commitments backed up in court regarding the operation and future of the fund”.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“These hollow words are an affront to the American people, Congress and the courts, and are clearly designed to lull Senators Cornyn and Tillis into a false sense that their legitimate concerns have been addressed while leaving Blanche’s corrupt scheme fully intact,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said of Blanche’s consessions.
Key background
Since he was appointed acting attorney general in April, Blanche has aggressively pursued criminal investigations and indictments against prominent Trump critics and political foes. He indicted former FBI director James Comey twice, including on charges over a social media post that were slammed by conservative First Amendment advocates. He secured an indictment against the civil rights organization Southern Poverty Law Center, and has pursued criminal inquiries into Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, former CIA Director John Brennan and former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. He oversaw a massive turnover of staff who’d worked on Trump-related matters., including Jan. 6 prosecutions, and boasted that the department had fired over 200 prosecutors and agents. He also oversaw the release of millions of Jeffrey Epstein investigative documents, and was accused of prioritizing protecting political figures with extensive redactions while failing to adequately protect victim privacy.