WATCH LIVE: Epstein survivor, fired DOJ pardon attorney testifies at Blanche’s confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON (AP) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced skeptical questions at a Senate hearing Wednesday about the creation of a fund to compensate President Donald Trump’s allies and a tax immunity deal for the president as he aimed to secure Republican support needed to advance his nomination.

Watch Thursday’s hearing live in the video player above.

Blanche insisted that the $1.776 billion Arms Control Fund, which was canceled after a bipartisan backlash, “is not moving forward.” But lawmakers, including Republican Senator John Cornyn, have expressed concerns that the Trump administration has not yet committed in writing that the fund is dead and could therefore be revived.

Read more: What Blanche said about Trump, Epstein records during his confirmation hearing as attorney general

“Just to be clear, the President of the United States, who is the plaintiff in this lawsuit, has not agreed in writing to the deletion of the Armament Fund and there is no guarantee that he or one of the other plaintiffs” will not raise this issue in the future, Cornyn asked. Blanche responded that Trump had no authority over the fund, which was intended to be administered by the Justice Department but was never launched.

Cornyn’s questions were closely watched because Blanche requires the support of all Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and the Texas senator has not committed to supporting him.

The hearing arrived at a turbulent time for the Justice Department, where mass firings and resignations have hollowed out the workforce and Democrats and other critics have raised concerns that Blanche is still serving as Trump’s personal lawyer. He has led the department on an interim basis since April, serving as the public face of the malignant fund and accelerating investigations into perceived Trump adversaries. Even as he said the fund had been delayed, he made clear that immunity from tax audits granted to Trump this year remains in place despite protests from Congress.

He watches: Blanche defends his handling of Epstein files

Those proceedings, as well as the flawed release of files from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, came under new scrutiny on Wednesday.

Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware told Blanche: “You’re in charge of the Justice Department that I don’t know, prosecuting the president’s political enemies, and firing prosecutors and FBI agents.” “These are some of the actions that you said in the previous confirmation hearing before us that you would not take.”

For her part, Blanche referred to the investigations conducted with Trump during the Biden administration to argue that he inherited a politicized Department of Justice.

“In recent years, we have watched the Department of Justice turn against many of you and against a former president, damaging public confidence in justice,” Blanche said. “We’re fixing that.”

Blanche will need the support of every Republican on the committee

Key to Blanche’s confirmation are Cornyn of Texas, who lost his primary in May, and Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who chose not to seek re-election. In the final stretches of their Senate careers, both are seen as more likely to break with Trump than before, and both have been outspoken critics of the fund created by the Trump administration to compensate people who feel wrongfully persecuted by the criminal justice system.

After questioning Blanche, Cornyn told CNN he still had “some concerns” and would not “make any decisions at this point.” Meanwhile, Tillis indicated during his cross-examination that he was likely to support Blanche, even as he said he wanted to “stick a fork in this 1776 box.”

He watches: “I’m his lawyer,” Blanche says of his relationship with Trump before correcting himself.

With the death of Republican Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, who was a member of the committee, 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats remain on the committee. With Democrats united in solidarity against Blanche, a no vote by even a single Republican on the committee would thwart Blanche’s nomination.

Blanche insists that the box is dead. Lawmakers aren’t so sure

The fund arose from the settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns. Blanche initially defended the initiative only to later reveal that it had been canceled amid bipartisan backlash.

The judge handling the case said in a scathing ruling on Monday that Trump had effectively engaged in self-dealing through the lawsuit. She said she was upset that Blanche signed the settlement given his previous representation of Trump, and was concerned that the acting prosecutor had given misleading testimony. Blanche said Wednesday that he disagreed with the judge’s “insinuations about me.”

Blanch also defended a separate component of the settlement that gives Trump and his family members protection from tax audits, which he said remains on track. He said the deal covers any current audits but does not protect the president from scrutiny of future tax returns.

“No one is above the law,” Blanche said. Such a settlement “does not make any of these individuals above the law.”

Epstein’s files are also under scrutiny

Blanche was also pressed about the administration’s staggered release of the Epstein files, a process plagued by problems, including redaction errors that left exposed nude photos showing the faces of potential victims.

During a podcast interview with Joe Rogan released on Wednesday, Vice President J.D. Vance said the administration “completely” mishandled communications surrounding the files, including when then-Attorney General Pam Bondi distributed to far-right influencers volumes of Epstein documents at the White House that contained material that was already public.

Blanche admitted that there had been “mistakes” in the release process but nonetheless defended the work.

“I want to make sure the American people know that this administration, when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, has been more transparent than any other administration,” he said. The Justice Department did not release additional files until after Trump bowed to bipartisan pressure to sign a law forcing the department to do so.

Blanche, a former federal prosecutor and a key member of Trump’s defense team when he faced four indictments, arrived at the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general. At one point, under friendly questioning from Republican Senator John F. Kennedy about whether he and Trump were friends, Blanche replied: “I’m his lawyer,” before quickly correcting himself to say that “I was his lawyer.”

He ascended to the top job in April after Trump ousted Bondi, who had frustrated the White House with his struggle to bring successful cases against Trump’s political opponents. Blanche has tried to appease Trump in this regard, including indicting former FBI Director James Comey, another Trump foe, for threatening the 47th president by posting a photo on social media of seashells in numerical order “86 47.”

Comey said these numbers are not a call for violence.

Blanche was also asked about the violence that occurred on January 6

Tillis, who said he would not support anyone’s prosecutor who quibbled over the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, asked Blanche if he agreed that any Capitol Police officer assaulted that day was “the victim of a heinous crime.” Blanche said he agreed.

Meanwhile, Democrats pressed Blanche on the violence and Trump’s sweeping clemency measures that benefited more than 1,500 people, including those convicted of violently attacking police.

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse criticized Blanche for her comments at a political conference this year where she appeared to describe the Jan. 6 pardon as an achievement for the administration. Blanche responded that he “never said that any type of violence against law enforcement is appropriate.”

“He has the absolute right to pardon anyone for any reason he sees fit,” Blanche said of the president. “I don’t celebrate it. It’s a fact.”

Associated Press writers Meg Kennard and Michael Konzelman contributed to this report.