Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund “a mistake” in what the senator described as a courtesy meeting before Wednesday’s hearing to review Blanche’s nomination to lead the Justice Department.
According to Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, when outrage over the fund came up in their conversation, Blanche said, “What more can I do? What more can I say? I made a mistake.”
President Trump and the Justice Department faced broad backlash, including from the GOP, over a settlement the president made after bringing a $10 billion suit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns.
While Blanche previously told lawmakers the Justice Department was “not moving forward with the fund. Period,” he has resisted calls to put such a position in writing.
Durbin said when he pressured Blanche to do something to make that a “credible” statement, Blanche said he would work with Congress to “codify” its ending.
The Justice Department did not respond to request for comment on the exchange.
The fund, as well as a recent court ruling determining the Justice Department and Trump colluded in dismissing his case and later crafting the fund, are sure to be probed by the committee’s democrats.
The ruling from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams found “there was never a question as to who would prevail” in the suit and that it was “brought to manipulate the judicial process.”
Durbin said Blanche in their meeting blasted the judge.
“He believes he was a victim of a hit job by this judge in Florida,” Durbin said.
Democrats have invited victims of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to attend Blanche’s confirmation hearing, saying they would give the nominee the chance to directly address them.
In a past hearing with Blanche’s predecessor, Pam Bondi, she refused to turn around and acknowledge Epstein victims present, photographs of which became a defining moment of her tenure.
Durbin described Blanche as being something of a smooth operator who would be able to dodge certain questions, including on past attempts to ask about things like pardons, which are approved by the president but where the Justice Department is traditionally highly involved.
“He’s a good lawyer, and he’s been at this a long time as a prosecutor and defense lawyer, and he has a way about him that is — it’s not an ‘aw shucks,’ but it’s pretty close to it,” he said.
