Todd Blanche faces Senate scrutiny in attorney general confirmation hearing

Todd Blanche will face the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. in Hart Senate Office Building Room 216 as President Donald Trump’s choice to become attorney general on a permanent basis. The hearing is scheduled to stretch into a second day on Thursday, July 16, with outside witnesses also set to testify.

The central test for Blanche will be whether he can convince senators that he would run the Justice Department with independence from the president who elevated him. Blanche has served as acting attorney general since April 2026, after Trump nominated him on June 3 to succeed Pam Bondi. His closest political tie is also his most obvious vulnerability: Blanche was Trump’s lead criminal defense lawyer in the New York hush money case.

Senators are expected to press him on the department’s investigations into Trump’s foes, a contentious $1.776 billion settlement fund, and the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Judiciary Democrats have called an Epstein victim to testify against Blanche, and a fired Justice Department pardon attorney is expected on the outside-witness panel Thursday. Those choices point to a hearing built around Blanche’s judgment, not just his loyalty.

Republican support will be critical. By mid-June, some GOP members of the committee were still undecided, raising the prospect that Blanche could need every Republican on the Judiciary Committee to move forward. That dynamic gives added weight to questions from Chairman Chuck Grassley and from Democrats including Mazie Hirono, Peter Welch and Chris Coons, who are likely to focus on whether Blanche would resist political pressure inside a department that is supposed to enforce the law without favor.

Blanche also arrives under a cloud from his previous confirmation process. Senate Democrats later asked the Justice Department for documents after questions arose about the truthfulness of his earlier testimony during his deputy attorney general hearing. That episode is likely to sharpen the scrutiny over what Blanche says under oath this time and whether he can persuade skeptical senators that he would put institutional duty ahead of personal allegiance.