President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, his former personal lawyer and current acting attorney general Todd Blanche, is already under fire for allegedly not releasing millions of pages from the Epstein files and persecuting Trump’s political enemies. Yet according to former deputy assistant attorney general Tom Dupree, Blanche is also problematic because of his recent decision to subpoena New York Times reporters over the story of the plane Trump received as a gift from Qatar being allegedly insufficiently secure.
“I guess the first thing I would say is that I am a strong supporter of law enforcement, and I don't like leaks that endanger national security,” Dupree told CNN. “At the same time, I also respect the First Amendment. And traditionally, the way the Justice Department has approached these types of issues is that it will subpoena reporters only in extraordinary cases and as a last resort.”
He added that “that's what gives me pause here — that what appears to have happened is the Justice Department's first resort was to go to the reporters, subpoena them and attempt to compel them to reveal their sources.”
Dupree also pointed out that Blanche is already facing heat for his involvement in creating a $1.8 billion slush fund for Trump's supporters, as well as a deal that exempted Trump and his family from any future audits. A judge recently ruled that these deals were illegal and constituted self-dealing, and recommended sanctions against Blanche.
“As a lawyer, there is never a good time to get referred to a disciplinary hearing, but two days before your confirmation as U.S. Attorney General is like the worst possible time,” Dupree said. “My guess is that the senators will use this ruling as basically grist for the questioning. I think they will have some very fair questions about Todd Blanche's role in achieving the settlement — his willingness, apparently, to walk back the fund piece of it but not to walk back the IRS immunity piece of it. And so I think this is going to be a robust topic of debate at these confirmation hearings.”
He concluded, “The timing of this ruling is striking — literally days before he's going to go before Senate Judiciary and testify about his ability to maintain his independence from the president, which this ruling undermines.”
In the ruling, Judge Kathleen M. Williams broke down how Blanche behaved improperly.
“Acting Attorney General Blanche issued an 'order' (the 'Release Order') which referenced the 'settlement agreement' and released the President, his relatives, companies, and affiliates from 'any and all claims, counterclaims, [and] causes of actions; that 'have been or could have been asserted' against Plaintiffs that arise out of '(1) any matters that were raised or could have been raised in the Case or the Pending Agency Claims; (2) Lawfare and/or Weaponization; (3) any matters currently pending or that could be pending (including tax returns filed before the Effective Date) before Defendants or other agencies or departments,'" Williams wrote.
She later added, "On June 2, 2026, in testimony before the United States House of Representatives, Acting Attorney General Blanche advised that the Anti-Weaponization Fund would not be moving forward. He did not, however, commit to a similar termination of the audit and immunity protections set forth in his Release Order. Six days later, President Trump nominated Mr. Blanche to permanently serve as Attorney General of the United States."
To this day, Blanche continues to refuse to sign a legal document confirming that the slush fund is dead.
