About today's hearings
• Key nomination hearing: Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be attorney general, faced a high-stakes Judiciary Committee hearing, where he acknowledged there were some errors in the vetting of the Epstein files that were released to the public, but defended his handling of the case. He also called Trump’s US Capitol riot pardons “generous.”
• GOP’s thin majority: Blanche’s confirmation isn’t assured. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death left the Judiciary Committee Republicans with just one vote to lose, a razor-thin margin of error.
• Other nominees: At a separate hearing, Jay Clayton, the president’s nominee for director of national intelligence, faced a tense round of questions about the winner of the 2020 election and subpoenas he signed for New York Times journalists. And Erica Schwartz, Trump’s pick to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was grilled about vaccines and tracking foodborne illnesses .
Our live coverage has ended. Read our takeaways from today’s hearing here.
Catch up on the key moments from Blanche’s confirmation hearing
During today’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Todd Blanche attempted to navigate the awkward reality of him being both the acting attorney general and a former defense lawyer for Donald Trump.
At one point, Blanche, Trump’s pick for attorney general, said he “is” the president’s lawyer, before correcting himself and saying he “was” Trump’s lawyer, “and now I’m the deputy attorney general.”
Blanche was also grilled on the now defunct anti-weaponization fund, the Justice Department’s handling of Epstein files and Trump’s US Capitol riot pardons.
Blanche’s confirmation isn’t assured as he faces an even more narrow Senate margin. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s sudden death left the Judiciary Committee Republicans with just one vote to lose.
Here’s what moments stood out from his hearing:
- In his opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blanche argued he is “restoring American trust” in the Justice Department.
- He said the controversial anti-weaponization fund is “dead” and is not “moving forward.”
- Blanche dodged a question about what his department’s strategy is in litigation challenging federal rules that allow women to receive abortion pills through the mail.
- He defended the DOJ’s efforts to release the Epstein files, saying that while there were some redaction issues, those were addressed and corrected.
- Blanche said that Trump could not legally run for a third term as president.
- He called Trump’s decision to pardon those involved in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol “generous,” but added that he had not celebrated the pardons.
- Blanche said the Justice Department is committed to tamping down on so-called birth tourism in the US and that it would attempt to do so through prioritizing criminal cases stemming from the controversial practice.
- He called critical questions about FBI Director Kash Patel travel “extraordinarily obnoxious.”
- Blanche told senators he believed the Trump administration’s settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster earlier this year “was good for consumers.”
CNN’s Katelyn Polantz, Holmes Lybrand, Hannah Rabinowitz and Devan Cole contributed to this report.
Republicans have avoided talking about abortion in recent years. But not Wednesday
One of the more interesting developments Wednesday was the degree to which Republicans on the committee pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about the abortion pill, mifepristone.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Republicans generally tried to avoid dealing with abortion at the federal level, for fear of a political backlash. Trump and others repeatedly emphasized they were leaving the issue to the states.
Trump even said after the 2024 election that he wouldn’t revoke access to mifepristone.
But the federal government is currently involved in litigation involving the drug, and several Republicans brought up the issue Wednesday.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa asked for an update on what the administration was doing on the subject. (Blanche didn’t say much, citing a desire not to speak on litigation strategy.)
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas asked Blanche to respond to a letter he had sent seeking to understand the administration’s intentions (which the administration has been reluctant to telegraph).
Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama asked for Blanche to take “meaningful and thoughtful action to address the dangers” of the abortion pill, which the medical community generally regards as safe and effective. (Blanche said the administration would take meaningful action.)
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas made an impassioned case that it was too easy to access the pill. And Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri also pressed Blanche on the issue.
Day 2 to feature witnesses on Epstein, immigration and Mel Gibson
A handful of witnesses are set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday as members of the panel consider whether to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general.
Republicans will put forth former Attorney General John Ashcroft, who served under President George W. Bush; Jon Adler, the president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association Foundation; and Jennifer Bos, the mother of an Illinois woman, Megan Bos, whose body was allegedly abused by a noncitizen.
Democrats on the committee will call Elizabeth Oyer, who had served as a career pardon lawyer at the Department of Justice until she was fired by Blanche last year. Oyer, who sued over her ousting, claims she was terminated because she refused to bow to pressure from Trump appointees who wanted her to restore the gun rights of actor Mel Gibson, which he lost after a 2011 state domestic violence conviction.
Democrats also plan to call Dani Bensky, a survivor of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The department’s handling of the Epstein affair featured prominently during Blanche’s testimony on Wednesday, and Oyer’s situation also occasionally came up. The Justice Department’s involvement in the administration’s aggressive deportation campaign was similarly a topic that lawmakers from both parties zeroed in on to either praise Blanche’s work or criticize it.
Analysis: Blanche hearing shows more GOP exaggeration of alleged weaponization
Blanche’s confirmation hearing provided yet another example of Republicans exaggerating evidence of the Biden administration’s supposed “weaponization” of the Justice Department against Republicans.
Under questioning from GOP Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Blanche seemed to confirm that he’d consider prosecuting former special counsel Jack Smith for perjury.
But the allegation that Smith lied rests on a complete misreading of Smith’s testimony and newly disclosed documents.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley of Iowa disclosed Tuesday that Smith’s investigators had obtained and reviewed text messages from 44 members of Congress during the investigation of now-President Donald Trump.
Several Republicans including Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Hawley have suggested that disproves Smith’s testimony in a December deposition.
In that testimony, Smith was asked whether the “toll records” he had obtained from members of Congress “include the content of text messages.” Smith replied, “No.”
But the key distinction is that the newly disclosed text messages didn’t come from the toll records obtained from members of Congress.
Instead, as Grassley notes, they came from subpoenaing the text messages of White House officials from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). That data happened to include the content of text messages from members of Congress, but it was obtained in a different manner, more incidentally.
In other words, it’s a different batch of evidence than Smith wasn’t asked about.
Republicans have long exaggerated evidence that the Biden DOJ was weaponized against Trump, against Republicans and against conservatives.
Hawley similarly mischaracterized such evidence in a hearing featuring Attorney General Pam Bondi late last year. In the hearing, Hawley claimed the FBI had “tapped” his phone and the phones of other Republicans. But the evidence showed the FBI had merely obtained phone records — call logs — not monitored the content of the calls.
Blanche says he's recused himself from DOJ probes into former Trump cases
“What happened to you, Todd Blanche?” Sen. Adam Schiff capped his questioning to Blanche after drilling down on the ethics of being Donald Trump’s personal lawyer-turned deputy attorney general.
Blanche confirmed in response to Schiff’s questions Wednesday that he has recused himself from any involvement DOJ’s action related to the now-ended three criminal cases against Trump: a false-business-records prosecution in New York, the January 6 investigation and the case of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Blanche, in his answer, acknowledged prior CNN reporting that a department official last March advised him to remove himself from those matters.
“To the extent there’s any work around those cases, yes, I’m recused,” Blanche said.
Blanche said he also hasn’t been involved in the decisions to fire DOJ prosecutors who worked on the January 6 and Mar-a-Lago documents investigations.
Schiff then called Blanche’s sign-off on the IRS settlement with Trump “a staggering example of self dealing.”
“You basically decided that you were going to be the lawyer for the president and the lawyer for the IRS and the Justice Department, Schiff said, echoing a federal judge’s comments on the settlement earlier this week.
Blanche, clearly irked by Schiff’s rhetoric, tried to convince him he still was acting ethically and not working to help Trump.
“When you ask me what has changed, okay, and you talk about a single document that I signed, okay. Somebody had to sign that document when the president sued, okay. So I tried to do the right thing,” Blanche responded.
GOP senator asks for investigation of former special counsel Jack Smith
Sen. Josh Hawley pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on whether the Justice Department would investigate former special counsel Jack Smith for perjury over his response to questions during a closed-door interview on the Hill last year.
Hawley and other Republicans have suggested that Smith lied when he stated on the record that lawmakers’ phone records he had subpoenaed did not include contents of calls or text messages.
“Now, maybe there’s some nuance I’m missing here, but it sounds a lot to me like this guy didn’t tell the truth,” Hawley said Wednesday. “Have you thought about investigating this guy for perjury?”
“We take testimony in front of this body very seriously,” Blanche replied.
Blanche was Trump’s personal attorney while Smith was investigating the former president in 2023 and 2024.
Claims that Smith lied, however, conflate two separate subpoenas.
Last year, Republicans were informed by FBI Director Kash Patel that Smith had subpoened the basic phone records of several lawmakers — including what phone numbers were called and the duration of the calls but not their content — during his investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Tuesday, Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley revealed that Smith had received text messages from lawmakers during his investigation. Those messages were accessed through a separate subpoena for communications from White House staff, which included messages between those staffers and lawmakers.
GOP Sen. Mike Lee posted a clip online Tuesday of Smith’s testimony on the hill last year where the former special counsel was asked whether he had accessed the contents of phone calls or messages from lawmakers through the toll records subpoena, not the separate subpoena Grassley raised this week.
During his testimony, Smith said the toll records did not include the content of messages or phone calls from lawmakers.
Tillis "leaning yes" but needs Trump to endorse bill to kill $1.8B fund to approve DOJ nominee
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis explained that he’s leaning yes on advancing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to lead the Justice Department, but he first needs to see President Donald Trump endorse a legislative move to kill the proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund once and for all.
“I have to have absolute certainty that 1776 fund cannot rear its ugly head,” the North Carolina Republican who is not running for reelection, told CNN after Blanche’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Blanche must win the support of all 11 Republicans on currently the panel, including Tillis, for his nomination to be considered by the full Senate. GOP Sen. John Cornyn, another member of the committee, told CNN earlier that he was still undecided and not satisfied with Blanche’s responses to questions about the fund.
Tillis asked Blanche, if the fund was truly dead, to partner with him on a bill that he would try to pass in the Senate unanimously to make it “legally moot.”
While it may be an uphill battle to pass such legislation with the House’s razor thin margin, Tillis quipped, “they do a pretty good job of passing stuff when the president says pass it,” adding that he would work with Blanche to draft language that Trump would approve of.
Pressed on whether he could vote for Blanche if the House does not pass a bill, he responded, “if the president endorses it, that’s good enough for me. I’ll take him for his word. If the House doesn’t deliver, then that suggests to me if we can get something out of here with UC (unanimous consent), then they got some work to do.”
Overall, Tillis said Blanche did “a good job” and was “very measured” in his confirmation hearing. He told reporters that he hasn’t seen in Blanche “anything that trips my wire, the Ed Martin wire, on J6,” referring to when he killed Trump’s nominee to be DC’s federal prosecutor after Martin downplayed the crimes committed by January 6 rioters.
“For God’s sake, let’s not try and be more vicious and weaponize more things. Let’s do it on a rational basis that the American people really want. These American people don’t like weaponization and they don’t like chaos, and we got a little bit of both now that we need to get rid of before November,” Tillis said.
Top Senate intel Democrat "very disappointed" after Clayton's confirmation hearing
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters that he was “very disappointed” with some of Jay Clayton’s answers during Wednesday morning’s confirmation hearing, adding that he still needs to mull over whether he can vote for Clayton’s nomination to be director of national intelligence.
The Virginia Democrat was particularly let down by Clayton’s answers on election integrity and the president’s claims that the 2020 election was “stolen.”
“I worry that there seems to be this criteria that this administration is putting out about no one who’s put up for any position can tell the truth about (the) 2020 election. That’s deeply unsettling,” said Warner.
However, Warner acknowledged that he does want to remove Bill Pulte from his role as acting national intelligence director as soon as possible. “It’s also deeply unsettling every day that Bill Pulte remains in the position of acting DNI, because I have no doubt that he would be willing to declassify, or not even understand the nature of sources and methods and the importance of maintaining that.”
Warner indicated he has not decided how he will vote on Clayton’s nomination. “I’ve a lot to think about, and I want to visit with my other colleagues,” said Warner.
CDC nominee says she’ll follow science on vaccine recommendations
Dr. Erica Schwartz, the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators on Wednesday that she would follow the science on vaccine recommendations from the agency’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Schwartz was asked if she would commit in advance to approving recommendations made by the committee, regardless of scientific evidence, if US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy asked her to.
“The secretary would never ask me to do that,” Schwartz said.
But Democratic Sen. Patty Murray quickly responded that former CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez was fired in 2025 after refusing to rubberstamp decisions made by Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine committee.
“I will follow the science wherever it leads, Senator. You have my commitment on that,” Schwartz responded.
Facing more questions from Sen. Bill Cassidy, Schwartz reiterated that she would stick to the science.
“I would never, ever accept ACIP recommendations without doing a deep dive into what those recommendations are or were,” Schwartz said, adding that she would work with CDC’s career scientists and medical leaders. “We would look at the evidence. Where are they getting the evidence? Are these randomized, controlled trials? Are these cohort studies? Are these test-negative design studies? We would make sure we understood the weight of the evidence that they use to make those recommendations, and if the weight of the evidence isn’t there, or if the science is questionable, you have my commitment that I would not at all, ever, agree to those recommendations.”
Schwartz faces questions about tracking foodborne illness amid cyclosporiasis outbreak
Sen. Patty Murray, a Democrat from Washington, questioned Dr. Erica Schwartz, the nominee to lead the CDC, about tracking of this summer’s cyclosporiasis outbreaks, which are causing thousands of cases of severe diarrhea.
In 2025, in the wake of staff and funding cuts to public health agencies, the CDC scaled back FoodNet, one of its surveillance systems. The system, a partnership between the CDC, US Department of Agriculture, US Food and Drug Administration and 10 state health departments, proactively looks for cases of foodborne illness by contacting labs directly for test results rather than waiting for them to be reported.
Before July 1, 2025, FoodNet collected data on eight pathogens, including the parasite cyclospora. The network now only collects information on salmonella and an especially dangerous kind of E. coli bacteria. The rest are optional.
“Dr. Schwartz, you are a physician, you are a public health expert. Is there any scientific or medical justification for CDC having eliminated mandatory reporting of that parasite?” Murray asked.
Schwartz said this was the first time she had heard of that change, but acknowledged cyclosporiasis is a “terrible, terrible disease.”
Murray asked Schwartz if she would commit to reinstating the required reporting of cyclospora.
“You have my commitment to work with your staff and work with the CDC scientists to understand what can be done, why did it stop and what can we do moving forward,” Schwartz said.
Cyclosporiasis remains a nationally notifiable disease, which means confirmed cases are reported to state health departments and eventually the CDC. The agency said Tuesday it is tracking cases — which are occurring at much higher levels than what’s typical — based on national surveillance.
Takeaways from Jay Clayton’s nomination hearing to be director of national intelligence
The Senate Intelligence Committee has wrapped up its questioning of President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the US intelligence community, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton, after a single round of tense questions about the winner of the 2020 election and a set of controversial subpoenas Clayton signed for New York Times journalists.
But although some exchanges grew testy — in particular over Clayton’s election-related responses — the overall tenor of the hearing suggested that his nomination is on track. Trump has installed an acting director, Bill Pulte, who has drawn bipartisan alarm over his complete lack of national security experience, and Democrats have been keen to keep his tenure short. Committee Chairman Tom Cotton, a Republican of Arkansas, said a panel vote is expected on Clayton next week.
Here are takeaways from his hearing:
Sparring over elections: In multiple instances, Clayton responded to direct questions from Democrats about whether Joe Biden had won the 2020 election by responding that Biden was “certified” as the president — neatly sidestepping the question of whether he “won,” an emotional third rail for Trump.
In the final moments of the hearing, Clayton acknowledged to Vice Chair Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia, that Biden had been “fairly and duly elected under our process.”
Vague plans over ODNI’s future: Clayton did not provide a detailed vision for the future of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a broad coordination, overnight and analysis agency created after 9/11 to avoid dangerous intelligence silos. There has long been a bipartisan sense that the agency has become bloated and ineffective, and Cotton made no secret of his expectation that Clayton should dramatically reduce the agency staff if confirmed. Pulte has fired dozens of officials from the office already.
Questions about reporter subpoenas: Clayton told lawmakers he followed a “consultative process” with career prosecutors in his office before issuing a series of controversial subpoenas to New York Times reporters over an article published last week about the president’s use of a jet from the Qatari government as Air Force One.
“We followed the processes that we are required to follow,” Clayton told Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. He declined to go into further detail, citing an “ongoing national security investigation.”
Republican senator who's criticized Trump says Blanche did well
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who has been critical of President Donald Trump told Todd Blanche he had “done a great job today” during Wednesday’s confirmation, choosing to focus his criticism and comments on Democrats and Trump, not the acting attorney general.
Tillis said he was “against some of the decisions of the president” but quickly added: “Not you, Mr. Blanche. You work for somebody, and you got to do what you’re told to do. And I hope you stay within the ethical bounds of the law.”
The North Carolina senator, who is retiring at the end of the year, said that Justice Departments under Biden and Trump have both contributed to a politicalization of the department and beyond.
“I want leadership that says we’re going to ratchet things down and not make the heinous mistakes that the Biden administration did,” Tillis said. “Let’s be better than them, not better at prosecuting people that maybe we shouldn’t, or take a little bit more time before we indict them, but let’s just be better than them.”
Tillis noted that he wasn’t criticizing Blanche, “but I’m trying to just cut through the rhetoric and let people all know that we are at this place today in part because of the actions of the Biden administration, and the weaponization that I even saw under Garland, who I generally supported.”
One item that Tillis asked Blanche about was whether those who attacked officers during the January 6 Capitol riot should were victims “of a heinous crime.”
“Yes, and should have been prosecuted and was,” Blanche said of the assailants.
Trump issued a blanket pardon for those involved in the attack — including those convicted of assaulting officers — as one of his first acts in his second term.
Blanche and Clayton say they are speaking with New Mexico officials about Epstein’s Zorro Ranch
Jay Clayton, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said his office is trying to reach an agreement with the New Mexico attorney general’s office for redacted documents sought as part of the investigation into Epstein’s actions at his Zorro ranch in the state.
On the eve of Clayton’s confirmation hearing for Director of National Intelligence, the New Mexico attorney general’s office posted on X that SDNY was not cooperating with their probe, which they opened in February. New Mexico is seeking “the complete, unredacted investigative record” from DOJ.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez’s announcement comes after repeated attempts from him to get the Justice Department to share access to unredacted files related to Epstein.
In a letter sent to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche earlier this month, Torrez argued that the lack of cooperation was preventing the state from bringing justice to survivors. And in a letter sent Tuesday, he said that New Mexico would pursue legal action if the Justice Department did not provide access to the materials.
Clayton told the committee, “Yeah, I spoke to my team about this last night. That request is for unredacted documents. Those documents are subject to several protections for those redactions, including a protective order of the court. My folks, I think, as we speak, are seeking dialog with the attorney general to see if we can reach an accommodation that is consistent with those protective orders.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is facing lawmakers during his confirmation hearing for attorney general, was asked repeatedly about Epstein.
Specifically, when asked if he would cooperate with New Mexico’s investigation, Blanche said, “Yes, we’re continuing to work with them.”
This post has been updated with additional information. CNN’s Piper Hudspeth Blackburn contributed to this report.
“Damn lies”: Cassidy vents frustration about vaccine misinformation
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician who has sparred with the Trump administration about vaccine messaging, delivered some passionate words toward the end of a hearing to confirm two top public health officials.
Cassidy pointedly questioned Sean Kaufman, the nominee to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, about the nominee’s earlier social media post that appeared to argue against hepatitis B vaccination for newborns.
“Why would you repeat those damn lies?” Cassidy said in visible frustration. “I’m sorry to be kind of worked up about this, but I’ve seen people die from these vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Kaufman said that the post, which he has since deleted, had been mischaracterized and he had not linked vaccination to autism.
“I have simply said public health owes it to the people to take a look at why there’s been such an increase in autism and allergies,” Kaufman said.
Cassidy was not satisfied, and repeatedly questioned Kaufman’s vaccine views. He also circled back to the nominee’s previous comments about cancelled research into mRNA technology, pressing Kaufman to recommit funds to mRNA vaccine development.
The nominee said he would fight for research.
Analysis: Blanche's tone change from previous hearings
Since Donald Trump took office, the tone of Justice Department leadership has been combative toward congressional grillings and fawning toward the president.
Todd Blanche on Wednesday largely has managed to keep an even keel in both directions. He’s tried to highlight his supposed independence from the president in a few answers — perhaps even aiming to sound like a traditional attorney general, after months of withering criticism that the Department has been anything but.
For instance, Blanche revealed on Wednesday about his sign-off on a settlement between Trump, his former client, and the IRS, that Trump consulted with private lawyers. Blanche said he didn’t talk to Trump about it until the Justice Department decided it wasn’t going forward.
He also told the Judiciary Committee he has disagreed with Trump and wouldn’t do anything illegal or unethical if Trump asked him to. “If it were to happen, I’m not going to violate my oath to the Constitution,” Blanche said.
The hearing hasn’t been without its barbs.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked Blanche, “How long do you intend to put up with that Kash Patel character?”
Blanche responded, “That’s an extraordinarily obnoxious question, Senator.”
Still, most of Blanche’s remarks on Wednesday differ in approach from even Blanche’s first working day as acting Attorney General — when told his former defense client the President publicly at a press conference, “I love you, sir.”
More than 1,500 former Justice Department employees have said they believe Blanche has turned the department away from its apolitical traditions.
Ossoff grills Clayton about Fulton County search warrant and probe into Gabbard
Jay Clayton, Trump’s director of national intelligence nominee, and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff had a tense exchange over former director Tulsi Gabbard’s presence while a search warrant was served in Fulton County, Georgia, tied to President Donald Trump’s push to question the 2020 election.
Ossoff told Clayton during the nominee’s confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate intelligence committee that Democrats are probing why Gabbard was there in January.
The intelligence community’s general counsel has already given testimony in the probe, Ossoff told Clayton.
Clayton said the question was “hypothetical,” and didn’t answer it.
The nominee also said that Ossoff had brought up Gabbard’s presence in Fulton County in a private discussion the men had on Tuesday.
“The first time you learned that Director Gabbard was present at that raid was in my office yesterday?” Ossoff asked.
“It was the first time that, in my recollection, that I’ve thought about it recently,” Clayton replied. It was one of a number of tense exchanges between Ossoff and Clayton during the hearing.
Clayton also refused to say whether Joe Biden won the 2020 election, as he had in response to prior questions from Senate Democrats.
“We know, you know, everybody in this room knows the truthful answer to that question. Why can you not give it?” the Georgia Democrat added.
Clayton reiterated his position that he already answered the question by saying earlier in the hearing that Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 election. He said he would not engage in “theater” by answering the question again.
ASPR nominee waffles on cancelled mRNA research
Sean Kaufman, the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, told senators Wednesday that he believes Covid-19 vaccines made with mRNA technology are safe and effective, but defended the administration’s move to cancel mRNA vaccine research.
Several Democratic senators questioned Kaufman about previous comments made on LinkedIn that he “would rather perish than have any one of his children receive an injection where the risks soundly outweigh the benefits gained.”
Kaufman said that was because his children are healthy and low risk, but that the vaccine helped medically vulnerable people.
Yet the nominee later told Sen. John Hickenlooper that he supported the US Health and Human Services decision to terminate 22 projects to develop mRNA vaccines.
He said we could learn more from the safety and risks of the Covid-19 vaccines, rather than launching new mRNA vaccine projects, but then said if another pandemic threat arose, the government could “plug and play” to quickly develop new immunizations.
This logic raised questions, particularly with Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy.
“I am just again flabbergasted that you would support stopping research on mRNA vaccines because there [were] some adverse events,” Cassidy said. Kaufman said he “would love” to do more research on mRNA vaccines.
Dr. Erica Schwartz, the nominee to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she believes mRNA shots are safe and effective, but said she was not aware of the cancelled funding and would learn more about the decision.
Blanche as Trump's lawyer and head of the Justice Department
Todd Blanche has been attempting to navigate the awkward fact of him being both the head of federal law enforcement and, previously, Donald Trump’s defense lawyer.
Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana asked Blanche if he and Trump were “friends,” and if Blanche monitors all of Trump’s actions.
Blanche says he “is” the president’s lawyer, before correcting himself and saying he “was” the president’s lawyer, “and now I’m the deputy attorney general.”
The Justice Department’s ethics office has previously warned Blanche of the thorniness around Trump’s legal interests, and said he needed to recuse from investigations where Trump had an interest. But the Justice Department has refused to specify which, if any, investigations Blanche has recused from that relate to Trump.
Separately, in an exchange with Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican, about a settlement between Trump and the IRS, Blanche said he signed off on the settlement language for the Justice Department’s side, which protects Trump from audits and other inquiries, and established a $1.8 billion fund for some of his supporters.
Blanche also said that if Trump wanted to enforce the settlement terms, the president could use his own lawyers to sue “and then we would litigate it.”
Typically, under widely accepted legal ethics principles, a defense lawyer who has a client would not be able to be then jump to the other side of a case, against the client.
Trump had separate lawyers to consult with about the fund, and Blanche testified he didn’t speak to Trump or his outside lawyers about the fund except to tell the president the department wouldn’t move forward with it.
The recusal issue has also come up in regards to any DOJ probe of former special counsel Jack Smith’s special counsel investigation. But Blanche was the head of Trump’s defense efforts, as that prosecution advanced in 2023 and 2024.
Cornyn raises concerns over Blanche's comments on $1.8B fund and says he's undecided
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation to lead the Justice Department is far from a sure thing — GOP Sen. John Cornyn, one of the key votes Blanche can’t afford to lose on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told CNN on Wednesday he’s still undecided.
Though Blanche has said that the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that critics say would be used to compensate Trump’s allies will not move forward, Cornyn said he was dissatisfied with the acting AG’s ability to say that the proposal wasn’t statutorily enforceable.
“Well, basically, he confirmed that it’s not dead. It can’t be changed without written consent of the parties, according to the settlement agreement. There is no written consent of the parties, and he agreed that it could be enforced as a matter of contract,” he told CNN.
Cornyn said, “yeah,” Blanche’s answers about the fund, which is unpopular among many Republican senators, concerned him, telling CNN that the issue would be “in the mix” as he decides on whether to advance the nomination.
After the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, any GOP senator on the Judiciary Committee could block Blanche’s nomination from moving forward to the full Senate.
“Obviously, you know, as I told him, being the member of the cabinet, subject to being dismissed by the president for good reason or no reason at all, and also trying to maintain the integrity of the department is a very tough balancing act,” Cornyn said, adding, “I continue to have some concerns, but I’m not going to make any decisions at this point.”
The Texas Republican, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in his primary this spring, told CNN he would likely decide on whether to block Blanche’s nomination when the panel votes some time next week.
“He’s, you know, got an admirable record of service as a US attorney, but it’s, as I said, it’s a really tough job. So I’m just still weighing all the considerations, and I’m going to continue to listen to the questions that are asked by my colleagues and any additional information that comes out,” he explained.
