WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s approval of a nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund for President Donald Trump’s supporters who claim they faced political persecution may have satisfied his boss, but it has sparked fierce opposition from Republican legislators whose support he needs for permanent confirmation.
While Blanche denies he’s campaigning for the attorney general position, a series of high-profile actions the Justice Department has implemented during his temporary leadership since last month, including bringing charges against former FBI Director James Comey, clearly demonstrate his effort to impress the president who selected him.
The compensation fund has positioned Blanche in the middle of intense Republican criticism just as he works to demonstrate he’s the ideal candidate for the role during Trump’s remaining term. The situation has intensified worries from Democrats and other critics that he hasn’t abandoned his role as the president’s private lawyer.
“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — Take your pick,” Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former majority leader, said in a statement.
Previously a federal prosecutor in New York, Blanche gained national attention through his leading position on Trump’s legal defense team, including representing the Republican during his hush money trial in New York. This experience gave him what he describes as direct insight into what he claims was the weaponization of the criminal justice system targeting Trump.
He joined the Justice Department as deputy attorney general, the second-highest position, before being promoted last month following Trump’s dismissal of Pam Bondi.
He now faces the familiar challenge confronting Trump-appointed attorneys general: balancing expectations from staff to maintain institutional standards while meeting the president’s demands for personal loyalty.
Trump’s initial attorney general, Jeff Sessions, was pushed out following the 2018 midterms after angering the president by recusing himself from an investigation examining connections between Russia and the 2016 presidential campaign. William Barr, another attorney general, stepped down after their relationship deteriorated when Barr declined to support Trump’s unfounded allegations of widespread election fraud. Bondi was dismissed after failing to successfully prosecute Trump’s political adversaries.
Two weeks into his role as acting attorney general, Blanche named Joseph diGenova, an 81-year-old former Justice Department prosecutor from the Reagan era, to a special role within the department. DiGenova will supervise a Florida-based probe examining whether former law enforcement and intelligence officials conspired during the past decade to undermine Trump.
“At some point, at the right time, that will be made public and the American people will see exactly what happened to this administration and President Trump over the past decade,” Blanche told Fox News.
Previous government examinations of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation, which forms the core of the current conspiracy probe, have not resulted in criminal charges against senior officials or uncovered evidence of criminal behavior by them. Whether the ongoing investigation has uncovered any new information remains unclear.
The Justice Department also secured an indictment last month against Comey, a Trump critic whose prosecution the president has long demanded, charging him with threatening Trump through a social media image of seashells arranged in the pattern “86 47” — a case legal experts believe will present significant challenges for prosecutors. Comey has indicated he expects the Justice Department may pursue additional charges.
In additional actions, Blanche announced charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit that has drawn conservative criticism, alleging it misled donors about its operations, and has publicly supported a Justice Department campaign against media leaks, including issuing subpoenas to journalists.
Perhaps the most bold display of allegiance to Trump occurred this week when the Justice Department revealed the establishment of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate individuals who believe they’ve faced unjust investigation and prosecution, along with guaranteeing immunity from tax audits for Trump and his oldest sons.
Following mounting Republican opposition, Blanche conducted a heated meeting with GOP legislators Thursday. Soon after, Senate Republicans suddenly departed Washington without voting on approximately $70 billion legislation to fund immigration enforcement agencies.
Blanche, who supported the fund during a congressional hearing this week, has stated that anyone believing they’ve faced persecution can seek compensation regardless of political party. However, the fund is widely viewed as benefiting Trump associates who were investigated during the Biden presidency.
“It’s pretty clear that he’s not the attorney general for the United States as much as he’s the attorney general for President Trump,” said Stephen Saltzburg, a George Washington University law professor and senior Justice Department official in the 1980s. He said Blanche would get an A+ if report cards were issued for fealty to Trump.
David Laufman a former chief of staff to the deputy attorney general in President George W. Bush’s administration, said that rather than protecting the Justice Department’s independence, Blanche has been a “willing and ardent accomplice for carrying out any partisan or corrupt scheme the White House may devise.”
Blanche’s allies reject claims he’s attempting to gain Trump’s favor to obtain the permanent position.
“What he is doing is he is seeking justice based on facts and the law,” said Jay Town, who served as a U.S. attorney in Alabama during the first Trump administration. “And I don’t think that will ever change about him, whether he is the attorney general going forward or doesn’t spend another day in the administration. He is an honorable man and anybody that knows him knows that to be true.”
Blanche also denies he’s maneuvering to retain his position or experiencing pressure to appease Trump.
He has informed reporters he would be honored to receive a nomination but, “if he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say, ‘Thank you very much. I love you, sir.’ I don’t have any goals or aspirations beyond that.”
Recently, he’s served as the fund’s primary spokesperson and most prominent advocate, a position that matches his ease with public attention. He frequently conducts multiple press conferences weekly and provides interviews to various news organizations, contrasting with Bondi, who primarily appeared on Fox News.
His supporters argue his background as a federal prosecutor has made him a more skilled department communicator than Bondi, though his public statements have sometimes generated controversy, including his refusal to exclude the possibility that violent Jan. 6 participants could receive compensation.
While Blanche will select the five commissioners responsible for processing applications, his exact involvement in the fund’s operation remains uncertain. He informed CNN the fund was created through discussions with Trump’s private attorneys, not through him.
For some Democrats, that distinction holds little meaning.
“Mr. Attorney General, you are acting today like the president’s personal attorney,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, told Blanche during a confrontational exchange in a Senate hearing, “and that’s the whole problem.”
