WASHINGTON – Tomorrow, Donald Trump’s Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will appear before Congress again, this time to testify before a House Appropriations subcommittee. After years as Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney, Blanche was appointed Deputy Attorney General and, following Pam Bondi’s firing, Acting Attorney General.
Under Blanche’s leadership, the Trump administration continues to weaponize the DOJ to protect the President and advance his vindictive agenda: dismantling prosecutorial independence, retaliating against perceived political opponents, and defying Congress’s mandate to release the Jeffrey Epstein documents. Americans deserve to know: does their top law enforcement officer serve justice – or Donald Trump?
Here are 14 questions the American people deserve answers to:
- Your Department announced a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded settlement from Trump’s $10 billion IRS lawsuit, a case DOJ was supposed to defend against. You confirmed no judge reviewed the settlement and you have full control over appointing all five commissioners directing payouts. You refused to exclude Trump donors or allies from receiving funds. The settlement purports to permanently bar the IRS from pursuing past tax inquiries of Trump, his family, and businesses. How is it appropriate for Trump’s former attorney to negotiate and administer a fund settling his lawsuit against your own department? Doesn’t this constitute self-dealing?
- Congress passed a bipartisan law requiring full release of the Epstein documents by December 19, 2025. Bondi testified last week she assigned you oversight of the review process as Deputy AG and acknowledged redaction errors. The DOJ missed the deadline, more than two million documents remain unreleased, and 47,000 previously published files were removed. You told reporters the review was “effectively over” while telling Fox News “it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.” The Inspector General launched a formal compliance audit in April. Why did you declare the review complete while millions of documents remain withheld? Do you accept responsibility for the redaction errors?
- In July 2025, you personally interviewed convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell under limited immunity. The transcript shows Maxwell repeatedly stating Trump never acted inappropriately, providing political cover for the President. Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security facility. What investigative purpose justified this interview? Who authorized the immunity grant and prison transfer?
- You have close personal ties to Maxwell’s defense attorney, yet you interviewed Maxwell and now oversee the DOJ’s Epstein document review. Did you seek a conflict-of-interest review before taking Epstein-related actions? Did you recuse yourself from decisions related to Maxwell?
- You defended Trump in multiple federal criminal cases, including the classified documents case and the January 6th election obstruction case. Two weeks into your tenure as Deputy Attorney General, the DOJ’s top ethics lawyer formally advised you that recusal from matters involving Trump in his personal capacity was required. The ethics official was subsequently fired. The DOJ refuses to specify which matters you’ve recused from. From which Trump matters have you recused yourself? How can the public trust you’re honoring ethical obligations?
- Under your leadership, the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation relating to lawsuits by E. Jean Carroll that resulted in judgments against Trump for $88.3 million for sexual abuse and defamation. You recused yourself because you represented Trump in his appeals. Who authorized the investigation if you were recused? How is this anything other than retaliation against a plaintiff your client lost to?
- In April 2026, the DOJ moved to vacate seditious conspiracy convictions of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders not covered by Trump’s Day 1 clemency grants. Which vacatur requests did you authorize? Did career prosecutors object?
- Your Department obtained an indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a 55-year-old civil rights organization that dismantled the Ku Klux Klan. Former prosecutors say the case fails prosecutorial standards. You falsely claimed the SPLC never shared informant information with law enforcement. The DOJ was forced to file a clarificationafter SPLC proved otherwise. How do you explain your false statements? Did career prosecutors evaluate this case? Did any object?
- Under Bondi, the DOJ launched over a dozen investigations targeting Trump critics, including Jack Smith, Senator Adam Schiff, and AG Letitia James. That retaliation campaign has continued under your leadership. Can you name one investigation that runs counter to Trump’s personal or political interests?
- Under your leadership, the DOJ has used federal agency resources to defend the pressuring of law firms and attorneys representing the administration’s perceived opponents. What legal authority justifies punishing attorneys based on clientele? How are these actions not retaliatory?
- The DOJ pressured Minnesota to hand over private voter data and authorized FBI seizure of 650 boxes of election records from Fulton County, Georgia. Who ordered these operations? What legal authority justified them? Have you reviewed or reversed them?
- Career attorney Erez Reuveni was fired after refusing to make false representations to a federal judge. Over 4,300 attorneys signed a letter warning that DOJ legal independence was collapsing. How many career attorneys have been terminated or reassigned for refusing directives they believed violated professional obligations?
- In January 2026, federal agents killed Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Independent FBI civil rights investigations were blocked, prompting six prosecutors to resign in protest. You announced a Civil Rights Division investigation into Pretti’s death, but experienced career prosecutors were not allowed to investigate. The DOJ declinedto open a federal civil rights investigation into Good’s death. Why were excessive force specialists excluded from the Pretti investigation? Why was there no investigation into Good’s death? What accountability exists for the agents responsible?
- Your Department refused to share the Office of Legal Counsel’s legal justification for U.S. military strikes on Iran with Congress, despite OLC historically providing such opinions to relevant congressional committees. On what legal authority are you withholding OLC opinions from Congress? Does Congress have oversight over the legal basis for presidential war powers?