Todd Blanche's Confirmation Hearing Exposes GOP Split Over $1.8 Billion Trump-Linked Settlement

Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, both Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, are the two names standing between Todd Blanche and a smooth path to confirmation as attorney general. A week crowded with Cory Booker's attack on Blanche's ethics and Epstein survivor testimony has obscured this dynamic.

Blanche testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week as President Trump's pick to run the Justice Department permanently, after serving as acting attorney general since April, when Trump fired Pam Bondi over her handling of the Epstein files, according to CNBC. Democrats on the committee are unified against him. That means his confirmation now rests on whether Tillis, Cornyn, or any other Republican breaks ranks, according to NPR.

The Settlement at the Center

The sharpest GOP concern isn't about Epstein. It's about a settlement Blanche helped negotiate to end a lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, according to NPR. As part of that deal, Blanche created a nearly $1.8 billion fund inside the DOJ meant to compensate people who claim to be victims of prosecutorial overreach.

After bipartisan blowback, Blanche said the fund is off the table. But the rest of the settlement stands: Trump, his family, and his business entities now have effective immunity from IRS audits, prosecution, or regulatory action over tax returns filed before the May settlement date, according to CNBC.

A federal judge in Miami didn't let that pass quietly. On Monday, she issued a scathing order accusing Trump of suing the IRS for an "improper purpose," writing that the goal was to manufacture "judicial legitimacy for a 'settlement' that had no viable basis in law or fact," according to both NPR and CNBC. The judge went further, ordering a copy of her ruling sent to the New York State Bar Association, which is weighing a pending ethics complaint against Blanche, a member of the bar.

A sitting federal judge has put her name on a finding that the settlement Blanche helped craft lacked legal grounding. Tillis and Cornyn, both Judiciary Committee members, are the Republicans who've publicly flagged concerns about it, according to NPR.

Committee Math After Graham's Death

Fox News reported this is the first major confirmation fight the committee has faced since the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, and Republicans are still working to fill his seat before the panel votes on Blanche next week. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee told Fox News Digital that Republicans are moving to fill the vacancy specifically so the vote can proceed, framing Blanche's confirmation as something Graham himself would have wanted.

Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa has already backed Blanche, calling him "well qualified," according to NPR. Trump posted on Truth Social this week urging "every Republican Senator" to vote yes, calling Blanche "a great lawyer, always very fair," according to CNBC.

Twenty conservative legal figures, including Article III Project founder Mike Davis and America First Legal's Gene Hamilton, sent a letter to Grassley urging confirmation, according to Fox News. Their case: Blanche has already proven he'll "fight back" against what they view as politically weaponized prosecution under the prior administration.

Blanche's supporters see a Justice Department that spent years pursuing Trump through what they call lawfare. They view his willingness to reverse course, including scrapping the anti-weaponization fund once senators objected, as evidence he responds to legitimate criticism rather than steamrolling it.

What's Actually New

Democrats used the hearing to press Blanche on his decision in January, while serving as deputy attorney general, not to release millions of pages of Epstein-related documents despite a law passed by Congress in November requiring their release, according to CNBC. A group of Epstein survivors released a video ahead of the hearing urging senators to block Blanche, saying the DOJ's eventual document release exposed their personal information without proper redaction.

None of that is new territory. What's new since Blanche's last appearance is the judge's Monday order and its direct referral to the bar association's ethics inquiry, plus the fact that the committee vote is now scheduled for next week, contingent on filling Graham's seat first.

No criminal charges have been filed against Blanche. The bar association complaint remains pending, not resolved. Whether Tillis or Cornyn actually vote no, rather than merely raising questions, is still unknown. That single vote, on a committee with a razor-thin Republican majority, will decide whether Blanche's nomination even reaches the Senate floor.