Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 1, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
This Wednesday, July 15 and Thursday, July 16, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee will have a chance to grill Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche — who President Donald Trump has nominated to take over the position permanently. Blanche's nomination is complicated by the death of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Kentucky) illness, and former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade is saying that Democrats have a long list of tough questions they can ask Blanche. But according to The Bulwark's Bill Kristol, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal may be Blanche's greatest vulnerability of all during his Senate confirmation hearing.
"This week, Blanche will be appearing before the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, making the case for his confirmation as attorney general," the Never Trump conservative explains in The Bulwark. "There are, needless to say, many important issues to raise with Blanche, who has been shameless in turning the United States Justice Department into Trump's personal law firm. But if Democratic senators want to stop him — or if, failing that, they at least want to weaken him and the Trump administration's assault on the rule of law — the Epstein coverup should be their focus.
As we saw after the failed attempt to stonewall the Epstein case, and as we have seen since in the none-too-successful coverup, the Epstein case matters to the public. And the public isn't pleased with what they've seen from the Trump administration."
During Blanche's confirmation hearing, Kristol notes, Democrats will have an opportunity to highlight Blanche's role in an Epstein-related meeting with Trump officials.
"A year ago, on July 17, 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche hurried to an emergency evening meeting in the White House Situation Room with his fellow Trump administration apparatchiks," Kristol writes. "Its location might suggest it had to do with national security. It didn't. It was about the political security of Donald Trump. Ten days earlier, the Trump administration had tried to close the door on the Jeffrey Epstein matter. The Justice Department and the FBI had announced that the Epstein investigation was complete, that nothing further could or should be done, and no new documents would be made public. But that effort to stonewall was already falling apart. Now, it had to be replaced with a more elaborate coverup."
Kristol continues, "Orchestrating that coverup was the point of the Situation Room meeting. A week later, Blanche flew to Florida to meet with Epstein co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and ensure she continued not to talk. A week after that, Maxwell was transferred to a cushy federal prison."
If survivors of Epstein's crimes are present during Wednesday's hearing, Kristol emphasizes, it will be a bad look for Blanche.
"It's also likely that when Blanche testifies on Wednesday, Epstein survivors will be present," Kristol observes. "Will Blanche, who has refused to meet with them, acknowledge them? Will he apologize for the botched redaction process over which he presided that exposed them to further pain and harassment? Will he repudiate Trump’s dismissal of them? On Thursday, Democrats intend to use their limited ability to call witnesses to have at least one courageous Epstein survivor appear. That testimony could be the highlight of the hearing."
