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Confirmation hearings are underway for President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, his personal attorney Todd Blanche. Blanche is mired in a number of controversies, most notably his mishandling of the administration’s release of the Epstein files while serving as deputy attorney general under Pam Bondi. Washington state Representative Pramila Jayapal, who is co-sponsoring a bill to allow Epstein survivors whose identifying information was improperly publicized by the Department of Justice to sue the federal government for damages, says “Todd Blanche was responsible” for the breach. “He really wanted to discourage anyone else from coming forward with more information. … It’s [a] big reason why he shouldn’t be the attorney general.” Jayapal also discusses the Department of Justice’s surveillance of herself and other legislators who viewed Epstein-related documents and Blanche’s longstanding personal and professional connections with Trump.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was grilled by senators during his confirmation hearing Wednesday to become attorney general. Blanche previously served as President Trump’s personal lawyer. He’s headed the Justice Department on an acting basis since Trump fired Pam Bondi as attorney general. It’s unclear if Republicans have enough votes to confirm Blanche.
During the hearing, outgoing Texas Senator John Cornyn blasted Blanche for his role in proposing a $1.8 billion fund for Trump to give to his allies, including January 6th insurrectionists. Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana questioned Blanche about his ties to Trump.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY: Are you and President Trump friends?
ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: I’m his lawyer — was his lawyer, and now I’m the deputy attorney general.
AMY GOODMAN: “I’m his lawyer — was his lawyer,” Blanche corrected himself. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin criticized Blanche for continuing to act as if he were Trump’s personal attorney.
SEN. DICK DURBIN: In less than 18 months at the Department of Justice, you’ve shown you’re still President Trump’s personal attorney. Your tenure can be summed up in the four words you said — quote, “I love you, sir” — to President Trump. This was your response when you were asked what you would say to him. This nation deserves an attorney general who loves the Constitution more than any single president, an attorney general focused on keeping America safe and combating corruption, not satisfying the president’s personal grievances or channeling crypto cash to the administration’s MAGA faithful.
AMY GOODMAN: During the Senate hearing, Blanche also faced questions about his handling of the Epstein files, and we’ll hear his comments in a bit. But for more, we’re joined now from Washington, D.C., by Democratic Congressmember Pramila Jayapal of Washington state. She’s just introduced a bill with Senator Cory Booker to protect Epstein survivors whose personal information was improperly disclosed during the Trump’s DOJ’s recent release of the Epstein files, which Blanche was in charge of. But first, we want to go to the overall questioning of and the possibility that the acting or interim attorney general would become the attorney general.
Your assessment of Todd Blanche, Congressmember Jayapal?
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: Well, my assessment, Amy, is that he is not fit to be attorney general. He slipped and said what is true, that he acts as the president’s personal attorney, not as the attorney general for the people of the United States. This is a very important position, and Donald Trump is putting his personal attorney in because he wants him to do all the things that Donald Trump wants to do: the political persecutions that have been happening under Todd Blanche as acting attorney general, the cover-up of the Epstein files. You have to ask: What is he hiding for the president that he is not willing to come out and actually take responsibility for and prosecute the predators that are present throughout the Epstein ring? The slush fund, you know, that he negotiated, now he says it’s not going to happen. I don’t believe him. I don’t think there’s anything in writing around that. The settlement with the IRS that he negotiated for Donald Trump himself. These are all indications of why he cannot be trusted as the top attorney for the people of the United States. He might be trusted as the top attorney for Donald Trump. That’s not the role of attorney general. He should not be confirmed.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Congressmember Jayapal, if you could clarify? There’s been some reporting that suggests that, in fact, this confirmation hearing may be in part just symbolic, because he could, in principle, be acting attorney general for the duration of Trump’s term.
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: Well, it’s true that you can stay as an acting. However, I do think that it would be a significant step if the Republicans did not have the votes to confirm him. And, you know, I think that this is something that we need to fix. There is the possibility of people staying if they’ve been confirmed for another position, and then they can stay and transfer that confirmation into a new position. And so, I think there’s work to be done around that.
But I do believe that John Cornyn, perhaps Thom Tillis — not clear to me from the questioning — who are now sort of cut loose because they won’t be continuing in this position as senators, they might have the opportunity now to actually do what is right for the country. That is what I’m hoping for, because I think once he is — once they refuse to confirm him, there’s much more opportunity for us to ensure that he doesn’t continue in that position.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Congressmember Jayapal, ahead of Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing, the group World Without Exploitation released this video featuring Epstein survivors calling on senators to reject Blanche’s nomination because of his role in disclosing their personal information, while protecting the names of alleged abusers during the Department of Justice’s release of records related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation.
SURVIVOR 1: My name was released.
SURVIVOR 2: My phone number was released.
SURVIVOR 3: Where I went to school.
SURVIVOR 4: Where I live.
SURVIVOR 5: My students can now search me and read about my abuse.
SURVIVOR 6: I am an Epstein survivor.
SURVIVOR 7: I am an Epstein survivor.
SURVIVOR 8: I am an Epstein survivor.
SURVIVOR 1: We were exposed.
SURVIVOR 7: Nude pictures of victims were released.
SURVIVOR 9: Our family’s safety was put at risk.
SURVIVOR 10: Now Todd Blanche wants to be the attorney general of the United States.
SURVIVOR 2: Todd Blanche had a duty to protect us.
SURVIVOR 11: Instead, he protected the people…
SURVIVOR 12: …who committed crimes against us.
SURVIVOR 3: Thirty years.
SURVIVOR 8: Twelve hundred victims.
SURVIVOR 7: And 6 million files.
SURVIVOR 13: A mountain of evidence.
SURVIVOR 4: But Todd Blanche says there are no investigative leads.
SURVIVOR 7: Todd Blanche failed us.
SURVIVOR 6: He failed victims everywhere.
SURVIVOR 8: We deserve better.
SURVIVOR 9: Our country deserves better.
SURVIVOR 13: Vote no on Todd Blanche for attorney general.
SURVIVOR 12: Vote no.
SURVIVOR 6: No.
SURVIVOR 2: No.
SURVIVOR 14: No.
SURVIVOR 5: Vote no on Todd Blanche for attorney general.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And several of Epstein’s accusers were in fact seated in the Senate gallery during the hearing. And at the hearing, Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin had a heated exchange with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on whether he would commit to personally meeting with Epstein survivors.
SEN. DICK DURBIN: There are 10 individuals who were exploited and abused by Mr. Epstein. They are here today. None of them have had a chance to speak to anyone in the department or FBI, though they’ve asked repeatedly. So, can I get your word, under oath, that within the next 30 days you will personally sit down with these 10 victims and hear their case in terms of what needs to be done by the Department of Justice?
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ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: I — Chairman, I appreciate them being here today. I also have somebody from my office who’s spent her entire career working on cases like Mr. Epstein’s. She’s in charge of our task force investigating human trafficking. She’s available to talk to them, as soon as today.
SEN. DICK DURBIN: She can sit right next to you. She can sit right next to you when you meet with these survivors.
ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: I am — I have never said I will not meet with survivors. I am — so —
SEN. DICK DURBIN: Will you meet with these 10 survivors? I’m asking you, on the record.
ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: If they have lawyers, as you know, I’m prohibited from meeting directly with them.
SEN. DICK DURBIN: I think you ought to be in the room, because you ought to hear this. You had singular responsibility for these files. There was a delay in meeting the statutory requirement of disclosure. You were involved in that. I think you ought to be part of this.
ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: I am definitely part of it, and I have been from day one.
NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Congressmember Jayapal, you’ve just introduced a bill with Senator Cory Booker to protect Epstein survivors whose personal information was improperly disclosed during the Trump DOJ’s recent release of the Epstein files. So, if you could talk about what exactly you’ve called for?
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: Yes, we just introduced the REDACT Act, and this comes really from the whole experience of the Epstein survivors over the last year and a half under this Trump administration DOJ and Todd Blanche’s overseeing. And you might remember that when Pam Bondi, then the attorney general, was before us in the Judiciary Committee, where I sit, I did the first line of questioning. And the most powerful moment was when I asked the survivors to stand up, and they all stood up behind Pam Bondi, and I asked Pam Bondi to turn and to acknowledge them and to apologize for the fact that the Department of Justice, under her leadership and Todd Blanche’s leadership — he was really the one who was managing the Epstein files; they’re both responsible — they released the names of these survivors. They released personal information. And in some cases, the survivors had not even told their families about the abuse that they had experienced at the hands of these powerful predators and criminals in the Epstein ring. And at the same time that their personal information was released, they also redacted the — Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi redacted the names of the powerful predators, which was clearly — both things were against the Epstein Transparency Act. The damage that was done out of the release of that personal information — their addresses, their phone numbers, pictures of them, all of the details of the abuse that they had suffered — they have not had any way to get recompense for that. And so, the REDACT Act essentially allows survivors a private right of action to sue the Department of Justice, including for monetary damages, because their information was released.
I have spent hours and hours and hours with the survivors. I have gotten to know them incredibly well. They are so brave, so courageous. They are taking so many risks in continuing to stand up. They are inspiring people across the country to stand up and speak out about the abuse that other women have experienced at the hands of traffickers and predators. And it is really remarkable to me that to this day they have not been able to sit down with Todd Blanche.
And I will just say also that after that hearing, I was invited to meet with Pam Bondi, because she had personally spied on me and had a document that showcased the files that I had looked at when I was reviewing the Epstein files. And so, I made a — you know, I made a big stink about it.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, this is a big deal, Congressmember Jayapal. Just to explain, for people to understand, you have to go into a room and look at the files, and they were filming you? They were surveilling you looking at the files?
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL: They were surveilling me, not with film, but what they did is they had a password-protected account, so you had to sign in. And what they did is they downloaded my search history. And I only found out, Amy, because a photographer — I think it was AP photographer — took a picture of her binder when she was testifying, and and it said “Representative Pramila Jayapal’s search history,” and it had all of the files that I had looked at documented on that piece of paper. So, yes, they were surveilling members of Congress and what we searched for, in preparation for her hearing before us on the Judiciary Committee.
So, I met with her. It was supposed to be one on one. And, of course, Todd Blanche walks in five minutes after. I spent an hour with both of them, and I grilled them on the surveillance of members of Congress and also on all of the things that they had done to hurt survivors and to protect the president. And I have to tell you, Todd Blanche was responsible for all of that. It was very clear to me that he was the one who was making the decisions, who was acting, essentially, as the president’s personal attorney in redacting the names of powerful predators and allowing for the release of the names of these victims, who — of these survivors. He really, I think, wanted to discourage anyone else from coming forward with more information. He failed at that. They are continuing to come forward. But it’s just another reason why he shouldn’t be — a big reason why he shouldn’t be the attorney general.
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