Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is slated to testify Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and is expected to face tough questions from members on a number of topics, chief among them his role in the Justice Department’s botched release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
After firing Pam Bondi in April, President Donald Trump nominated then-Deputy Attorney General Blanche to assume Bondi’s role, a nomination that has received intense scrutiny given Blanche’s history as Trump’s personal lawyer, as well as his handling of the release of Epstein-related files.
More than 1,200 former Justice Department (DOJ) employees signed a letter urging senators to reject Blanche’s nomination, as have several Epstein survivors, many of whom were unlawfully named in the DOJ’s release of Epstein-related files.
Under Blanche’s leadership at the DOJ, around 16,000 employees have left, including FBI agents and more than 25% of the agency’s attorneys, according to former DOJ employees. Blanche has also faced scrutiny for spearheading what critics have described as politically motivated prosecutions of Trump’s perceived enemies.