WASHINGTON, D.C. — Todd Blanche has spent his Justice Department tenure doing one job: protecting Donald Trump. He left a top law firm to become Trump’s personal defense attorney, then brought that loyalty into the DOJ. He moved to vacate January 6th convictions, buried the Epstein files, and settled a lawsuit against Trump’s own government with a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded slush fund and a permanent tax immunity deal for the Trump family.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee considers his nomination for Attorney General, Blanche already has three strikes against him: he’s defended the January 6th insurrection, buried the Epstein files, and cut a deal to shield Trump from the IRS.
“Todd Blanche is out of excuses,” said Not Above the Law co-chairs Lisa Gilbert, Praveen Fernandes, Kelsey Herbert, and Brett Edkins. “In the same week the Senate Judiciary Committee is supposed to decide whether he’s fit to be Attorney General, a federal judge ruled his attempt to settle Trump’s absurd case against the government he runs as President was a sham. That same judge then sent a copy of her ruling to the New York bar disciplinary authority, where Blanche already faces multiple ethics complaints. That’s on top of a record he can’t run from: burying the Epstein files, working to erase the January 6th convictions, and now a deal a judge just tore apart. That’s three strikes. The Senate should call him out, not confirm him.”
STRIKE ONE: The Epstein Cover-Up
- Blanche Personally Interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell. After the DOJ closed its Epstein probe without filing new charges, Blanche personally conducted two days of interviewswith Maxwell, sidelining the prosecutors who built the case against her. Her attorney, David Oscar Markus, is a close friend of Blanche’s who has hosted him on his podcast. Former prosecutor Catherine Christian said the whole exercise looked designed to produce a statement from Maxwell that would clear Trump.
- Blanche Spent Months in Secret Situation Room Meetings Working to Bury the Files. According to The New York Times, Blanche participated in months of Situation Room meetings with the Vice President, the White House Chief of Staff, and the FBI Director, all aimed at keeping Trump’s Epstein ties out of public view.
- Blanche Declared the Review “Over” While Hiding Millions of Files and Stonewalling Congress. In February, Blanche announced the Epstein document review was “effectively over” despite millions of unreleased files still under wraps. Days later, he told Fox News twice that “it isn’t a crime to party with Mr. Epstein.” Former Attorney General Pam Bondi herself told the House Oversight Committee under oath that Blanche was “in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files.”Blanche has dismissed Trump’s 1,800-plus appearances in the Epstein files as not worth investigating.
STRIKE TWO: The $1.8 Billion Slush Fund
- Blanche Settled Trump’s IRS Lawsuit With a Slush Fund and a Tax Immunity Deal. After Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion over a 2020 tax-return leak, the DOJ under Blanche settled by creating a $1.776 billion, taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization fund,” then ordered the IRS to permanently end all audits of Trump, his family, and their businesses. A federal judge ruled that the settlement was a sham, finding Trump and the IRS were never truly adverse parties, barred its use in any future proceeding, and sent a copy of the ruling to the NY bar disciplinary authority, where Blanche already faces multiple ethics complaints.
- No Judge Reviewed the Settlement, and Blanche Controlled Every Payout. At his May Senate hearing, Blanche confirmed no federal judge reviewed the deal. He also said he would appoint all five commissioners deciding who got paid. When pressed, he refused to exclude Trump’s own donors and political allies from receiving funds.
- Blanche Claimed to Drop the Fund After Backlash, but Kept the Tax Immunity Deal Anyway. Senate Republicans including Thune, Tillis, McConnell, and Grassleypublicly objected. Facing mounting pressure, Blanche seemingly retreated from the fund in early June but has refused to do so in writing. Meanwhile, the Trump family’s tax immunity deal might remain in place, even as GOP senators continue to question it.
STRIKE THREE: Sedition Sympathizer
- Blanche Left a Top Law Firm to Personally Defend Trump in His January 6th Case. In 2023, Blanche left Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft to join Trump’s defense team, including his defense against Jack Smith’s indictment charging Trump with obstructing the January 6th certification. Blanche called representing Trump “an opportunity I should not pass up.”
- Blanche Moved to Vacate January 6 Rioters’ Convictions. In April, under Blanche’s leadership, the DOJ moved to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions of twelve Proud Boys members and Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. Vacating a conviction erases the judicial record that a crime ever occurred.
- Blanche Replaced Hundreds of Employees Who Worked January 6 Cases With Insurrection Sympathizers. Blanche oversaw the termination of hundreds of DOJ employees who worked January 6th cases. In their place, he hired Jared Wise, who was recorded encouraging rioters to “kill” officers; tapped Joseph diGenova, who said a cybersecurity official should be shot for contradicting Trump’s election-fraud claims; and brought on Kurt Olsen, who helped Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
- Blanche Publicly Praised January 6 Pardons and Purged DOJ Records to Erase the Cases. In March, Blanche told a Texas audience that every convicted January 6th defendant “was either pardoned or had their sentence commuted” by 5 p.m. on Inauguration Day. Two months later, in May, the DOJ deleted the vast majority of its January 6th press releases, later dismissing them on X as “partisan propaganda.”