Blanche pushes back on 'weaponization' fund worries during hearing

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche defended his involvement in a $1.8 billion "weaponization" compensation fund at his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing Wednesday in his bid for the top Justice Department job.

Over the course of the hearing, Blanche sparred with Democrats and pushed back on concerns from some Republicans about his time serving as deputy attorney general over the last 15 months.

Many of the questions focused on a May settlement between President Donald Trump and his own administration that created a $1.8 billion compensation fund and provided Trump and family members with immunity from tax audits for years prior to the settlement.

The questions came as two Republicans on the panel -- Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina -- have withheld their support pending questions about the settlement and Blanche's tenure at DOJ.

During the hearing, Cornyn pushed Blanche about the status of the settlement underlying the fund, noting that it had not been altered. "There's so much that is unusual about this," Cornyn said. Blanche responded that the settlement between Trump and the administration was still valid and enforceable, but could not force the department to move forward on the fund. "There is no weaponization fund. The weaponization fund is dead," Blanche said. Outside the hearing room, Cornyn told CNN that he continued to have concerns after Blanche confirmed the fund could be revived.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., pushed Blanche to answer for the DOJ's nondefense of Trump's lawsuit. "When for the first time in history there's an inquiry into fraud upon the court committed by the Department of Justice, the silence from the department in response to that is deafening, Mr. Blanche, deafening," Whitehouse said.

Ranking member Sen. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., said Blanche had been involved in numerous efforts to use the Justice Department for Trump's political ends. "You've shown you're still president Trump's personal attorney," Durbin said.

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., argued that no president has tapped an enemy to lead the Justice Department. "Are you his friend?" Kennedy said. Blanche responded with a quote that Democrats soon seized on online. "I'm his lawyer ... was his lawyer," Blanche said.

After an exchange in which Tillis pressed Blanche to help draft legislation barring the fund, Tillis said Blanche has "done a great job today." Most Republicans on the panel praised work by the Justice Department in the second Trump administration. That included panel Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa. "This department is keeping Americans safe and the numbers back that up," Grassley said.