A United States Senate panel has begun grilling interim Attorney General Todd Blanche as he seeks confirmation to lead the Department of Justice, the country’s main federal law enforcement agency.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold two days of questions with Blanche on Wednesday and Thursday.

Looming large over the hearings will be scrutiny about Blanche’s loyalty to President Donald Trump and whether he will protect the independence of the Department of Justice.

But in his opening statement on Wednesday, Blanche attempted to head off those concerns, claiming instead he was fixing what was previously wrong with the department.

“We are restoring American trust,” Blanche said.

Prior to joining Trump’s second administration, Blanche served as the Republican leader’s personal lawyer. Blanche represented him in cases including a New York state trial that resulted in Trump’s conviction on 34 counts of falsifying business records.

In March 2025, he was confirmed as deputy attorney general, before the April resignation of Pam Bondi resulted in his appointment as acting attorney general.

But while Blanche has faced Senate scrutiny before, this round of questions is set to be more intense than what he faced last year.

Blanche is likely to face questions about his efforts to prosecute several of Trump’s political rivals and critics, including James Comey, a former director of the FBI.

In May, Blanche also oversaw a controversial civil settlement in a lawsuit lodged by the president against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that shielded Trump and his family from future tax investigations.

Blanche has also taken a central role in the Justice Department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, which chronicle the federal government’s investigation into the convicted sex offender.

Critics have questioned whether members of the Trump administration have attempted to shield powerful figures through excessive or inconsistent redactions in the published files. Trump himself had a previous relationship with Epstein.

Nevertheless, Blanche made little mention of his relationship to Trump during his opening statement, saying only he was “exceedingly grateful” for his support.

He instead pointed to FBI data showing violent crime dropping in the US in 2025, continuing a downward trend since the COVID-19 pandemic, and he highlighted the Justice Department’s efforts to combat cartels and drug trafficking.

“I’m proud of what we’ve done to help American families see safer streets and to have a fair shot at the life they’re working to build,” Blanche said. “None of this is a Republican or Democrat issue.”

But Blanche echoed Trump’s assertions that the Justice Department was “weaponised” against Trump and his allies prior to the Republican leader’s second term.

“In recent years, we watched the Justice Department turned against many of you and a former president, and it damaged the public’s faith in justice,” Blanche said. “We are fixing that.”

Trump faced four criminal indictments, including two on the federal level: one for allegedly attempting to overthrow the 2020 election, and another for withholding classified documents. Both federal indictments were dropped upon Trump’s return to office.

Wednesday’s proceedings were, in many ways, a symbolic referendum on the Department of Justice under Trump. There have been concerns that Trump has leveraged the department for political aims, despite longstanding norms about prosecutorial independence.

Legal scholars have also argued that, even without confirmation, Trump could keep Blanche in an acting capacity for months to come.

Republicans in focus

Blanche’s confirmation remains on a knife’s edge; it is unclear whether he will proceed to a full Senate confirmation.

Following the death of Senator Lindsey Graham, only one Republican on the committee would need to break ranks to scuttle the process.

Both Senator Thom Tillis, who is retiring at the end of his term, and Senator John Cornyn, who lost his primary race to a Trump-backed challenger, are seen as the most likely to oppose Blanche.

During questioning on Tuesday, Cornyn took particular issue with the civil settlement reached between Trump and the IRS. The settlement granted Trump and his family protection from tax investigations, while creating a nearly $1.8bn “anti-weaponisation fund” for alleged victims of political prosecutions.

Blanche has said the fund has been abandoned, a claim he repeated on Wednesday.

“I’m under oath today, and I’ve said it’s dead repeatedly,” Blanche said during the hearing. “I said it to the House Oversight Committee, and I’m happy to say it as many times as necessary.”

A federal judge on Tuesday also voided the settlement, accusing participants like Blanche of bending court rules and norms to serve the president’s interests.

“There was never a question as to who would prevail,” the judge wrote, suggesting that Blanche and others had acted on Trump’s behalf.

On Wednesday, Cornyn was among those pointing out that Trump officials had not put in writing their intention to abandon the settlement.

“Just to be clear, the president of the United States, who’s a plaintiff in this lawsuit, has not agreed in writing to delete the ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’ and there’s no guarantee that he won’t raise it in the future?” Cornyn asked.

Blanche, however, maintained that a written declaration would be immaterial to the issue, and that Trump has no power over the fund.

Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat, accused Blanche of valuing his loyalty to Trump over all else. He referenced Blanche’s statement of affection for Trump in April, when Blanche said he would “love” the president no matter his personnel decisions.

“In less than 18 months at the Department of Justice, you’ve shown you’re still President Trump’s personal attorney,” Durbin said.

“Your tenure can be summed up in the four words you said,” he added, “‘I love you, sir’ — to President Trump.”