18 days ago
By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - Todd Blanche will walk into his confirmation hearing on Wednesday carrying baggage that might have sunk past attorney general nominees.
That includes a client list featuring the president who nominated him, a since-shelved $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" that many Republicans called reckless and a stack of demands from Democrats, former prosecutors and Jeffrey Epstein survivors urging senators to vote no after they say he botched the release of the Epstein files.
And yet, Republican insiders expect him to easily win confirmation. The outcome will determine who leads the Justice Department at a time when it is pursuing prosecutions of President Donald Trump's perceived adversaries and facing questions about its independence from the White House.
"He's on a glide path to confirmation," said Mike Davis, a former chief counsel for nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley who remains an influential outside voice in the Trump orbit.
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) - Todd Blanche will walk into his confirmation hearing on Wednesday carrying baggage that might have sunk past attorney general nominees.
That includes a client list featuring the president who nominated him, a since-shelved $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" that many Republicans called reckless and a stack of demands from Democrats, former prosecutors and Jeffrey Epstein survivors urging senators to vote no after they say he botched the release of the Epstein files.
And yet, Republican insiders expect him to easily win confirmation. The outcome will determine who leads the Justice Department at a time when it is pursuing prosecutions of President Donald Trump's perceived adversaries and facing questions about its independence from the White House.
"He's on a glide path to confirmation," said Mike Davis, a former chief counsel for nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley who remains an influential outside voice in the Trump orbit.
