Trump attorney general pick Todd Blanche heads into a Senate confirmation test facing an already-strained relationship between the Justice Department and Capitol Hill.
Concerted GOP pushback that prompted the Trump administration to retreat on its $1.8 billion fund for victims of alleged government “weaponization” underscores deeper tensions between DOJ leaders and their own party in Congress. The discord stems partially from former Attorney General Pam Bondi marginalizing her legislative affairs team and deprioritizing Hill outreach, including to fellow Republican lawmakers, said three people familiar with the situation.
Blanche and his leadership team have lately tried improving the dynamic, weeks before President Donald Trump announced plans to nominate him for the post Wednesday night, the three people said. Blanche has been acting attorney general since April and needs confirmation in the Senate, where Republicans hold a thin majority, to become permanent.
Blanche’s recent strategy includes leaning more heavily on the department’s chief legislative liaison, Patrick Davis, a Senate-confirmed official whom Bondi sidelined amid her frustrations that he couldn’t shield her from bipartisan scrutiny over the Epstein files, several individuals added—speaking anonymously about internal interactions.
Yet Davis’ office, which plays a significant role in shepherding DOJ nominees through the Senate, is significantly understaffed, after multiple career and political aides departed during Bondi’s tenure. The Office of Legislative Affairs’ headcount is about half of its authorized level of 34 employees, said a person with direct knowledge.
The office’s ability to build goodwill with lawmakers was further weakened when Bondi’s team rebuffed Davis in his effort to reinstitute advance notification protocols from the first Trump administration, the person added. The guidelines rejected by Bondi called for the attorney general and other DOJ officials to give lawmakers a heads-up before traveling to their districts or publicizing policies, grant awards, and major court filings.
A forewarning was noticeably absent on Capitol Hill before DOJ announced that Trump’s IRS lawsuit would be settled with the creation of a fund to compensate purported victims of politicized law enforcement, such as those who were prosecuted for raiding the Capitol on Jan. 6. This contributed to rare uproar directed at Blanche in a Senate Republican meeting last month that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) described on his podcast as “fireworks at an epic level.” The pushback led the administration to ultimately retreat from plans for the fund.
Whether Davis could’ve mitigated that situation isn’t clear. But a DOJ spokesperson, in a statement issued shortly before Trump said he’s nominating Blanche, praised Davis for managing Hill relations and said he has Blanche’s “full support and confidence.”
Republican lawmakers in both chambers Wednesday denied discord between their offices and DOJ under Bondi or Blanche.
Calm Under Pressure
For Blanche to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee, he’ll likely need to get support from panel member Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). The retiring senator has voiced displeasure with a number of Trump DOJ moves, and said in April, shortly after Bondi was fired, that any attorney general nominee who “said anything the least bit excusing the behavior of January 6th is dead on arrival.”
Tillis told reporters Thursday that the weaponization fund is the focus, or else Blanche “won’t have a very good time at the Judiciary Committee.”
Blanche made verbal assurances that DOJ won’t move forward with the fund, but some lawmakers are pressing him to memorialize that commitment in writing.
Another Judiciary member who’s newly resisting the administration, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), said Thursday he’s undecided on Blanche.
Read more: Key GOP Senators Air Skepticism as Trump Gives Nod to Blanche
As the acting AG tries wooing them and others from his party ahead of an unscheduled committee hearing, former colleagues of Davis—a veteran staffer on that same Judiciary panel—said he has the mild-mannered demeanor to handle such thorny situations.
“I’ve seen him in very high-pressure, high-stress situations. It doesn’t look like his pulse even goes up when everyone else is freaking out,” said Jason Foster, who worked alongside Davis on the Judiciary Committee for current Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). “That’s exactly the kind of person I would want there if I were the acting attorney general.”
A former investigative counsel for Grassley’s panel, Davis has the measured touch that could help Blanche sway the panel’s pivotal swing votes, his past Hill coworkers said .
Three people familiar with the situation credited Davis as crucial in Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s bruising confirmation process by helping persuade Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to provide the decisive vote.
Thankless Job
DOJ’s congressional relations unit has long been stuck in an especially challenging situation as the mediator between lawmakers who expect prompt oversight responses and a department with legal limits on disclosure.
That’s earned the legislative affairs chief a reputation as one of the most thankless jobs in Washington. Conflicts between the acting legislative affairs leader and top DOJ officials in the Biden administration also undermined the office’s clout.
But under Bondi, the issues grew pronounced. She chose to trust her own inner circle, including public relations-minded aides without congressional experience, to arm her with zingers targeting Democrats at hearings, while giving less credence to the substance-focused preparation provided by OLA, two people familiar said.
Bondi’s attitude toward Capitol Hill contributed to several legislative affairs Trump appointees quitting, one person with direct knowledge said.
Whereas Bondi arrived in Washington with some friends on the Hill, Blanche, who spent most of his career as a Manhattan criminal lawyer, is building new relationships in political world he was never accustomed to until recent years, multiple individuals said.
How he navigates a Republican-led Congress demonstrating an increasing willingness to take a stand against the White House will serve as a key test.
“Congress has a lot of tools to use to bring the executive branch to heel. In general, this Congress has not exercised its authority in that way,” said Ronald Weich, who ran OLA in the Obama administration and is now dean of Seton Hall University Law School. “This may be a turning point.”