Blanche faces questions on DOJ fund, Epstein files at attorney general confirmation hearing - CBS News

Blanche's confirmation hearing concluded after roughly five hours. Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, praised Blanche for his responses. "You should be very proud of your performance today," he said.

"I think you performed admirably, showed this entire country that you're eminently qualified to serve as attorney general. If confirmed, I'm very confident that you'll continue to do that superb job." Democratic Sen.

Adam Schiff of California asked Blanche if President Trump is immune from tax claims from the IRS this year under the settlement the acting attorney general signed off on earlier this year.

"So, for a tax return filed this year for last year, for the billions he made, there is no tax liability, even if he cheats on his taxes or his kids do or his business do, he is absolved of that further potential liability?" Schiff asked. "No," Blanche responded.

"He hasn't filed taxes yet, so when he files taxes, there's no protection, based upon this agreement." Schiff asked Blanche if he personally wrote the one-page document with his signature on it that said the defendants in Mr.

Trump's lawsuit, the IRS and Treasury Department, are "FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED" from "prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims" that arise out of tax returns filed before the settlement took effect in mid-May. "No," Blanche said. "I don't know the person that actually typed it. I don't know who it is." Sen.

Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, raised records made public by Grassley on Tuesday that showed that members of Smith's team had sought and obtained text messages from the National Archives and Records Administration, which included messages from 44 members of Congress.

The Justice Department said one of Smith's investigators had asked the National Archives for all text messages from October 2020 through Jan. 20, 2021, from phones tied to certain White House personnel. That material included messages between White House staff and 44 lawmakers.

Republican and Democratic lawmakers were among the 44 whose messages with White House personnel were obtained by Smith's team, according to the Justice Department. Among them were Republicans including Grassley, Hawley, Cruz and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, and Democrats including Booker and Reps.

Adam Smith of Washington and Joshua Gottheimer of New Jersey, as well as former Rep. Karen Bass of California. Smith was questioned by House lawmakers in December about the records he obtained during his investigation, and specifically toll records he obtained from members of Congress.

Toll records include data like telephone numbers, the times of calls and length of calls, and do not include the content of messages.

During one exchange , a House investigator asked Smith whether he sought search warrants for the content of text messages from members, to which Smith answered, "No, I don't recall that." He did say he sought a warrant for the toll records.

But Hawley suggested that Smith had lied to Congress when he was asked about the toll records. "Maybe there's some nuance I'm missing here, but it seems to me like this guy didn't tell the truth," Hawley said. "Have you thought about investigating this guy for perjury?"

In response, Blanche said, "we take testimony in front of this body very seriously. Yes." Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Tillis said he has to "to have absolute certainty the 1776 fund cannot rear its ugly head" in order to support Blanche's nomination. He said he remains a "lean yes."

The North Carolina Republican reiterated that he is working on legislative language that would rule out the possibility of the "anti-weaponization" fund being resurrected, and suggested that the Senate should pass it via unanimous consent.

When asked how the measure could get through the House, which has struggled to move any legislation in recent weeks, Tillis said, "They do a pretty good job of passing stuff when the president says pass it, right?" "So I asked Blanche if I could work with him," Tillis said.

"The presumption there is, if they're willing to work with me and provide me that language, that the administration would be hunky dory with it." Tillis added, "If the president endorses it, that's good enough for me."

Welch pressed Blanche on recent subpoenas his department sent to New York Times journalists after the newspaper reported last week on alleged security concerns involving the new Air Force One.

"The Department of Justice requires that I authorize [the subpoenas], which I did," Blanche said, adding that the Justice Department is "not targeting reporters." "They're material witnesses, just like a reporter would be a material witness to a car crash," Blanche continued.

Welch responded that the "question you want to ask them is who were their sources," which he said is "close to the heart of the First Amendment." Blanch denied that, but then said the Justice Department wants to find out who is leaking to the reporters.

"No, the question we want to ask them is who provided them with classified national security information, which everybody in this body should want to protect, I would hope," he said.

Blanche defended his and the Justice Department's involvement in the creation of the "anti-weaponization" fund and sign-off on immunity from IRS matters granted to Mr. Trump, despite having represented Mr. Trump before he returned to the White House.

"There is the question of whether a president who is suing the taxpayers, the IRS, for $10 billion, and where his formerly personal lawyer is representing the lawyers, is there a conflict of interest," Democratic Sen.

Peter Welch of Vermont said, noting that Blanche's law firm earned $9 million for its work on the president's criminal cases. Blanche denied running afoul of any ethical obligations through his involvement in the deal with Mr.

Trump, telling Welch there are "very clear ethics rules that I was required to follow, that I do follow." Welch also questioned Blanche on his firing of Liz Oyer as pardon attorney soon after he became the No. 2 at the Justice Department.

The acting attorney general said Oyer was not fired for refusing to help restore actor Mel Gibson's gun rights, as she told The New York Times.

"The decisions that she had made as pardon attorney in the weeks and months leading up to the end of President Biden's term were completely inconsistent with President Trump's authority, including recommending commuting every single individual on death row, which even President Biden didn't do," Blanche said.

Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn told reporters at the Capitol that he's still undecided about whether he'll back Blanche's nomination. "I'm still listening to the rest of the testimony today and tomorrow, and I'll be interested to see what his response is to the letter that Sen.

Tillis and I sent on the mifepristone issue," Cornyn said.

"I think he's an impressive guy, but, you know, as I said, being the attorney general, when you were subject to dismissal for no cause by the president of the United States, you have to walk a very narrow path between being the chief law enforcement officer of the country and then being the president's guy," he added.

"And it seems to me that, particularly in the tax issue, on the tax case, that he certainly leaned in to help the president beyond what was necessary to resolve the case." After Sen.

Lindsey Graham's death, there are currently 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee, meaning that Blanche needs the support of every Republican on the panel to have his nomination reported favorably to the full Senate. During a back-and-forth with Sen.

Alex Padilla, a Democrat from California, Blanche was asked whether a person who "forcibly" entered the U. S. Capitol building or assaulted law enforcement on Jan. 6 could receive taxpayer dollars.

"The fund that doesn't exist anymore set up parameters where no, somebody that you just described would likely not recover,