Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche arrived at the Capitol on Thursday for a closed-door meeting with Republican senators just as the allies he will need most were airing anger over a nearly $1.8 billion fund he signed off on for President Donald Trump’s supporters. The fund, meant to compensate Trump allies for alleged political prosecution, has put Blanche at the center of a Republican firestorm.
The timing could not have been worse for Blanche, who has said, “I’m not auditioning for the job of attorney general.” He is nevertheless trying to show he is the right person for the permanent post for the rest of Trump’s term, and the controversy is complicating that effort with lawmakers whose backing would be essential if he is nominated.
Since taking over as acting attorney general last month, Blanche has overseen several splashy moves by the Justice Department, including the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. Those steps have made him a visible figure in Trump’s orbit, but the new compensation fund has sharpened the political risk of that closeness at a moment when Senate Republicans are weighing how far to carry it.
Democrats and other critics have argued that Blanche has not shed his role as Trump’s personal attorney, and the fund has intensified that view. It also comes as Republican senators were expected on Thursday to abandon a separate proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and Trump’s ballroom after it failed to win enough party support.
That split leaves Blanche in a delicate position. He is asking senators to see him as a future attorney general who can command trust beyond Trump’s most loyal circle, while his signature on the $1.8 billion fund has made him a symbol of the very loyalty test that is dividing the party. The question now is not whether Blanche has attracted attention in Washington; it is whether he has done so in a way that helps or hurts the one confirmation fight that matters.
