What's Next for Todd Blanche...

...and How We Can Stop His Nomination

Todd Blanche wants to be the top law enforcement officer in America. For years, he was Donald Trump’s personal defense attorney. Two weeks ago, he sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee for two days of hearings on his nomination to be Attorney General, and what came out of those hearings should worry every single American, regardless of party.

Blanche is not applying for a fresh job. As Senator Cory Booker put it directly to his face, this wasn’t a job interview. It was a performance review. Blanche has already served as Deputy Attorney General and has been running the Justice Department in an acting capacity since Pam Bondi’s ouster in April. Booker told him plainly that on the treatment of Epstein survivors, on politically motivated prosecutions, and on avoiding even the appearance of corporate favoritism, Blanche has already failed.

WHAT WE SAW IN THAT HEARING ROOM

For five hours, Blanche sat feet away from Epstein survivors who were seated behind him in the gallery, and he could not bring himself to commit to meeting with them himself. Ranking Member Dick Durbin pressed him again and again to personally meet with ten survivors within 30 days. Blanche would not say yes. He offered up a staffer instead, claiming he was legally barred from meeting with represented parties directly. Durbin called it dancing on the head of a pin. Booker went further, calling the excuse utter nonsense, and pointed out that a represented client can waive their attorney’s presence any time they choose. The kicker: Blanche found time to personally interview Ghislaine Maxwell for two days. Not long after that meeting, Maxwell was moved from a low-security facility to a minimum-security prison camp. He could make time for Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator. He could not make time for her victims.

When Senator Sheldon Whitehouse asked him whether he could act independently of the president who was once his client, Blanche didn’t say yes. He said the Justice Department is “part of the executive,” and reminded the room he’d be sitting in Trump’s Cabinet. That is not an answer about independence. That is an admission that he sees himself as an arm of the president rather than a lawyer for the American people.

Senator Adam Schiff asked him something simpler and more devastating: “What happened to you, Todd Blanche?” It’s the question hanging over this entire nomination. A former career prosecutor turned into a nominee who cannot commit to basic oversight of his own department, who greenlit the DOJ’s approval of the massive Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger while attending a dinner hosted by Paramount’s own CEO, and who built and defended a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that emerged from a settlement immunizing Trump and his family from IRS audits over their own leaked tax returns. A federal judge has already found that settlement was born out of a collusive lawsuit. Blanche now claims the fund is “dead,” but he built it, defended it, and only backed away once bipartisan blowback made it politically toxic.

THE QUESTIONNAIRE GAME

Nominees for Attorney General are required to fill out a Senate Judiciary Committee questionnaire covering their record, their conflicts of interest, and their views on the independence of the department. Blanche’s answers were a masterclass in evasion.

Ask him a direct question about his role in shutting down investigations that touched Trump’s interests, and you get a non-answer about process.

Ask him whether he’ll commit to a timeline on Epstein files transparency, and you get a redirect to “ongoing review.”

Ask him to explain the ethics of interviewing Maxwell personally while refusing to meet survivors, and you get a claim of legal restriction that his own colleagues on the committee called flatly false.

This is not the record of a nominee with nothing to hide. It’s the record of a nominee counting on senators not to follow up.

EVEN REPUBLICANS AREN’T SOLD

Here’s the part that matters most for what we do next. Blanche needs every single Republican vote on the Judiciary Committee to move his nomination forward, because Democrats are unified against him. With the death of Senator Lindsey Graham, the committee sits at 11 Republicans to 10 Democrats. That means one Republican “no” kills this nomination in committee.

Two Republicans are genuinely undecided: Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Both have pushed Blanche hard on formally and permanently ending the Anti-Weaponization Fund, not just declaring it “dead” in a hearing room. Tillis has said he won’t support Blanche unless he personally meets with women harmed by Epstein. Cornyn said this week that the committee’s planned vote could be postponed again while he pushes for what he’s calling ironclad, written modifications to the IRS settlement. Notably, Trump has already worked to end both of their Senate careers. Tillis was targeted after opposing the Big Beautiful Bill Act, and Trump endorsed Cornyn’s primary opponent. These two men have less to lose from crossing Trump than almost anyone else in the Republican conference, and they know it.

This is our opening. It would take just one of them saying no to stop Blanche cold. That means every call, every message, every bit of public pressure on Cornyn and Tillis right now can matter more than almost anything else we do this year on this fight.

WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW

Call the Senators on the Judiciary Committee. Use the Capitol Switchboard to get connected to the Senators’ offices: 202-224-3121. Ask to be connected to the each senator’s office, or dial their direct line. Be polite but firm. Staffers are logging every call. Here is a list of all the Senators on the Judiciary Committee. Republicans are hoping to hold the committee vote tomorrow, July 30. But there is a chance that gets pushed if they don’t have the votes. Let’s do everything we can to prevent that vote and kill this nomination.

CALL SCRIPT ONE: For Senator Cornyn, Senator Tillis, and/or any Judiciary Committee member

“Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, STATE]. I’m calling to urge the senator to vote no on Todd Blanche’s nomination for Attorney General. Mr. Blanche has refused to personally commit to meeting with Epstein survivors, even though he found time to personally interview Ghislaine Maxwell. He has refused to say he can act independently of President Trump, his former personal client. And he built the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund tied to a settlement that shields the president’s family from IRS audits. I’m asking the senator to demand full, written, permanent modifications before any vote, and if those aren’t delivered, to vote no. Thank you for your time.”

Call your own senators. If Blanche clears committee, this goes to a full floor vote, and every senator’s position will matter. Use the Capitol Switchboard to get connected to your Senators: 202-224-3121. If you’re not sure who your two Senators are, you can find out using this link.

CALL SCRIPT TWO: For your own senators, ahead of a possible floor vote

“Hi, my name is [NAME] and I’m a constituent from [CITY, STATE]. I’m calling to urge Senator [NAME] to oppose Todd Blanche’s confirmation as Attorney General if this nomination reaches the Senate floor. Mr. Blanche has spent his time as acting Attorney General protecting the president’s interests instead of the Constitution’s. He would not commit to meeting personally with Epstein survivors. He would not say he can act independently of a president who was once his own client. Americans deserve an Attorney General who answers to the Constitution and to the people, not to one man. I’m asking the senator to vote no. Thank you.”

Use the Write to Win program to submit a letter to the editor of your local paper. A wave of local letters raising the Epstein survivors, the IRS settlement, and Blanche’s refusal to commit to independence keeps this story alive in every media market, not just DC.

Visit iwillvote.com to make sure your voter registration is current. Accountability doesn’t stop with this nomination. It continues at the ballot box in November.

Talk to your friends and family. Most people have no idea who Todd Blanche is or how unqualified he is for Attorney General. Change that.

Share this post and tag your senators on social media.

Todd Blanche has had every chance to show senators, and the country, that he can be an independent Attorney General. Instead, at every turn, he chose Trump over transparency and evasion over accountability. Two Senate Republicans are watching closely enough to know it too. Let’s make sure they hear from us before that vote happens.