“He’s acting attorney-general. Tomorrow. I’m instructing Dan (Scavino) and everybody else that’s involved in that very complicated process, which is going to go, I think, very quickly, that we are going to make him permanent attorney-general,” Trump said at a White House event, according to a video posted on X late on Wednesday by his aide Scavino.
Blanche, 51, took over leadership of the Justice Department after Trump fired Pam Bondi in April amid tension over the agency’s release of files related to convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and frustration that the department was not moving forcefully enough against the White House’s supposed political enemies.
Blanche has faced backlash from Republican senators, and even some White House aides, over the Justice Department’s now-scuttled plan to create a $1.8 billion fund for victims of alleged government “weaponization.”
To be confirmed, Blanche would need near-unanimous Republican support in the Senate, which Republicans control by a narrow 53-47 margin.
He said on Tuesday that the DOJ would not move forward with the plan, sparking fierce bipartisan opposition and threatening to derail a $72 billion funding package for Trump’s immigration crackdown.
But Trump on Wednesday would not say whether the fund had been terminated or was on hold, saying, “I’d have to ask the lawyers. I don’t know.”
“I love it. I think it’s so important,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “The weaponization fund, as far as I’m concerned, was a beautiful thing.”
Some lawmakers have called for a ban on the fund to be documented in writing or codified into law. Blanche told members of Congress this week that he would not commit to putting anything into writing.
Trump said in an interview broadcast on Wednesday that he was likely to nominate Blanche to the permanent position.
Blanche has moved quickly as acting attorney general to ingratiate himself to Trump and his political movement. In addition to the fund, the DOJ under Blanche has removed press releases detailing cases arising from the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, released a report condemning past prosecutions of anti-abortion activists, and secured criminal charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center civil rights group and former FBI Director James Comey, a longtime Trump foe.
