Blanche says he's not a 'yes man' as he faces criticism over Trump loyalty

WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche, faced tense bipartisan questioning at a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday about the rollout of the Epstein files and a settlement that gave the president sweeping tax immunity.

Blanche, the president's former personal lawyer, was pressed by Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas about the Justice Department's decision to settle Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service by creating a since-abandoned $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies for alleged prior government mistreatment, along with an associated order shielding Trump and his family businesses from facing tax audits over prior conduct.

Blanche, testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, deemed the planned fund "dead," but acknowledged the underlying settlement had not been formally rescinded. He said Trump's lawyers would have to go to court to enforce the settlement, something Blanche said they had no plans to do. He defended the tax portion of the deal as standard practice in IRS settlements, though tax experts have described the immunity for Trump as highly unusual.

Cornyn told reporters during a hearing break that Blanche's answers did not assuage his concerns about the fund and did not yet get him to a yes vote. "The argument was that the weaponization fund was dead," he said. "What he confirmed is that it's not." He added: "I continue to have some concerns."

Blanche sought to create some distance with Trump, saying federal judges should not be impeached for ruling against Trump administration policies and acknowledging that people who assaulted police during the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol should have been prosecuted. Trump pardoned nearly all convicted of taking part in the riot.

"President Trump trusts me to give him counsel," Blanche told Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware. "Counsel does not mean I'm a yes man." But Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general, also defended Trump's right to issue the pardons. "I am not celebrating that," he said. "It is a fact."

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday after a meeting with Blanche, Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said the attorney general nominee told him the weaponization fund was a "mistake" and he did not want to see it go forward. "In less than 18 months at the Department of Justice, you have shown you are, first and foremost, still President Trump's personal attorney," Durbin said on Wednesday.

Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana asked Blanche if he and Trump were friends. "I'm his lawyer," Blanche said, before quickly correcting himself, "was his lawyer. Now, I'm the deputy attorney general."

More than 1,200 former DOJ staffers have signed a letter opposing him. A federal judge concluded on Monday that Trump and lawyers in his administration improperly used the case to benefit the president and his allies and referred lawyers involved, including Blanche, to state bar authorities to investigate any legal ethics violations.