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

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche tried to assert his independence from President Donald Trump during his confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“President Trump trusts me to advise him,” said Blanche, Trump’s former defense attorney. “Advice doesn’t mean ‘yes man’.”

In his opening remarks, Blanche said he was there to earn “the trust of lawmakers once again,” saying he welcomed fair questions from committee members “about the difficult discussions of the past year.”

The senators accepted that invitation, pressing Blanche about her relationship with Trump, the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files, and the settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS.

Watch the clip in the player above.

Blanche took over as acting district attorney after Pam Bondi was fired in early April. In March 2025, the Senate approved his nomination to the position of Deputy Attorney General.

“The Senate has already ruled on your suitability for senior office and has confirmed that you are the Cabinet’s second-in-command,” Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said in his opening statement. “Today we’re thinking about getting you a promotion. We’re not starting from a clean slate.”

Grassley said Blanche “should be proud to carry out the law enforcement promise the American people voted for in 2024.”

Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., said Blanche should not be confirmed.

“This is not a confirmation hearing. This is just a performance review,” Booker said. “It is clear that when it comes to the treatment of Epstein’s victims, when it comes to politically motivated prosecutions, when it comes to avoiding the appearance of corporate impropriety, you have failed.”

Here are the highlights from the confirmation hearing.

Blanche says he did not discuss the IRS settlement with Trump

Since taking the top job at the Justice Department, Blanche has faced the most scrutiny over a deal to settle a $10 billion lawsuit brought by Trump over the IRS leak of his personal tax returns.

The settlement gave Trump, whose family business was convicted of criminal tax fraud, immunity from tax audits. It also included creating a roughly $1.8 billion fund to pay salaries to people who say they were victims of the government’s “weaponization.” The fund has since been canceled after bipartisan criticism.

A federal judge said Monday that Trump’s lawsuit was brought for an “improper purpose” that abused the court system.

He watches: Schiff questions Blanche about Trump’s tax settlement

Several lawmakers asked Blanche about his role in the settlement.

Blanch told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, that he did not talk to Trump about the settlement until after the Justice Department decided the case would not move forward — “when it died.”

However, when Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., asked Blanche whether he had advised Trump against creating the fund, Blanche declined to answer, saying he would not talk about the conversations he had with the president.

Watch the clip in the player above.

Although Blanche repeatedly said the Justice Department had terminated the gun control fund, several committee members pressed him to explain why the department had not agreed to write that the fund had been discontinued.

The Justice Department declined to make a statement after a judge requested it last month.

Blanche said the department had not made a formal announcement “because there is longstanding precedent that judges cannot ask Cabinet ministers or people like me to make announcements.”

“It has nothing to do with whether the box is alive,” Blanche said. “I took an oath today and said he was dead over and over again.”

But Cornyn pressed Blanche further, pointing to language from the settlement agreement that said it could only be amended with the written consent of both parties. Blanche said the settlement had not been amended and she agreed with Cornyn that the document was enforceable as a contract.

Watch the clip in the player above.

Blanche said Trump cannot force the Justice Department to create the weapons fund, but Trump’s legal team could say the department violated the contract by not creating it.

“They haven’t done that and I’m not aware that they plan to do that,” Blanche said.

Blanche has defended his handling of the Epstein files

Several lawmakers questioned Blanche about the Justice Department’s investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell. The federal government’s handling of the case has been the source of bipartisan criticism and a congressional investigation.

Former Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a House interview that Blanche was responsible for the Justice Department releasing files related to Epstein.

An Epstein survivor wears a butterfly pin during the confirmation hearing for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., July 15, 2026. Photo by Evelyn Hochstein/Reuters

Read more: Vance says the Trump administration “corrupted” Epstein dossier communications

Blanche defended his actions on Wednesday, saying he and the Justice Department “undertook the Herculean task of reviewing millions upon millions of potentially responsive files” after Trump signed the Epstein Transparency Act, which Congress passed last year to force the release of materials related to Epstein.

However, Blanch also acknowledged that his department made redaction errors, and said dozens of attorneys were on hand to quickly correct errors. Several documents revealed personal information and photos of survivors.

“This does not excuse the mistakes for which I take responsibility,” Blanche said. “But it means we tried to fix it.”

Watch the clip in the player above.

Responding to criticism that he refused to speak with Epstein survivors, Blanch said the administration spoke with more than 30 representatives of dozens of victims and asked survivors and their lawyers to meet with the FBI.

He added that the Ministry of Justice will charge and prosecute people if additional information is revealed. This is a departure from an unsigned memo issued by the FBI and Justice Department in July 2025 that said investigators had not uncovered evidence worthy of investigation against people who had not been charged.

He watches: Booker presses for details about Blanche’s meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell

Later in the hearing, Blanche said the information available to the FBI and Department of Justice contained no evidence that Epstein trafficked women to other men, but “that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, and I want to be clear about that.”

He added: “If there is anyone, whether a victim or not, who has information, I implore them to come forward.”

Blanche addressed recent deaths at the hands of immigration agents

Last week, federal immigration officers fatally shot two people during a traffic stop.

Read more: Trump says on social media ICE should continue traffic stops despite recent shootings

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., asked Blanche whether he agreed that federal agents should not “fire their weapons at cars unless there is an imminent threat.”

Watch the clip in the player above.

“There is an established standard as to when an agent can discharge their firearm, and I think that is something that should be followed in every case,” Blanche said.

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., asked Blanche what role the Justice Department should play in investigations into shootings involving federal officers.

It depends on the agency, Blanche said, adding that an officer’s agency generally has its own investigative procedures, which usually involves an inspector general.

Watch the clip in the player above.

Padilla said the lack of justice in the cases of Alex Peretti and Renee Judd, who were killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis in January, “undermines any confidence anyone should have in the ability of the Department of Homeland Security through its inspector general or other investigations.”

Blanche said that “just because time has passed between January and today does not mean there is no justice,” and that “these investigations take time.”

More takeaways from the hearing

• Regarding Trump’s January 6 pardon: “The Constitution gives the president full power to pardon anyone for any reason he wants,” Blanche said, adding that he did not question Trump’s decision to pardon the Jan. 6 rioters.
• Regarding the dismissal of judges: Blanch said he does not believe in removing judges who rule against Trump, which represents a departure from the president’s previous calls for the removal of several judges.
• On whether he is a friend of Trump:“I’m his lawyer,” Blanche said, before correcting himself by saying he was “his lawyer.” Blanche said he met Trump in his capacity as a criminal defense attorney. “I’m not sure there are many people who have a criminal defense attorney who would call this person their friend,” he said.
• Regarding Ministry of Justice subpoenas for journalists: In response to a question about journalists at the New York Times receiving subpoenas to publish reports on the defense capabilities of the new Air Force One donated by Qatar, Blanche said: “We do not target journalists.” He said the Justice Department wants to know who provided journalists with “classified national security information that every person in this body should want to protect.”