Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill July 15, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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Two Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday said they remained undecided about voting to confirm Todd Blanche for U.S. attorney general, endangering President Donald Trump‘s nominee to be the nation’s top law enforcement official.
“I am still considering it,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told MS NOW when asked where he stood on Blanche a day after he and other Judiciary panel members questioned the nominee at the first day of his confirmation hearing about a controversial and now-defunct $1.8 billion Department of Justice fund.
“Yeah,” Cornyn said when asked if he was undecided. “Like, I’ve said that several times.”
Cornyn is one of 11 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, which also includes 10 Democrats. Republicans lost a member when Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., died unexpectedly last weekend. Cornyn is set to leave the Senate in early January, having lost his state’s Republican Senate primary in May.
Another Republican on the committee, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said during the second day of hearings on Thursday that he wants Blanche to meet with victims of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before voting on his confirmation.
After Tillis’ comments, Blanche scheduled a meeting with Epstein victims at the Department of Justice for 4:30 p.m. ET. A group of four victims, along with the brother and sister-in-law of the late Virginia Giuffre, another Epstein victim, were seen entering the DOJ building.
The resistance to Blanche, who is Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, is the latest example of Republicans who are leaving office erecting a roadblock to Trump’s agenda while raising concerns about some of the president’s actions. Tillis is not seeking reelection this year.
Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) speaks to reporters outside of a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC on July 15, 2026.
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Blanche has faced criticism from victims for not meeting with them and for the DOJ — while Blanche was in the No. 2 leadership position — releasing files about Epstein that included identifying information about them.
“I have not made a final decision, but Mr. Blanche said very quickly yesterday that he would meet with the Epstein victims today if it could be arranged,” Tillis said at the hearing, which Blanche didn’t attend.
“I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present. I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee,” Tillis said. “This is a very important part of getting to yes.”
Tillis also said that, like Cornyn, he has concerns about the DOJ fund.
“There are very specific, measurable work products — not a wink and a nod and a handshake — but definable, ratified, executed agreements that will make me feel comfortable that this turkey of an idea is dead,” Tillis said.
If Cornyn or Tillis were to vote against forwarding Blanche’s nomination, along with every Democrat — as is expected — while the remaining Republicans voted for Blanche, the nomination would be stalled in the Judiciary Committee.
That would prevent the full Senate from voting on the nomination.
Blanche, who was confirmed last year as deputy attorney general by the Senate, has been serving as acting attorney general since April, when Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi.
If Blanche is not confirmed as her replacement, he could continue serving as acting attorney general.
Asked Thursday if he was still concerned about whether the DOJ’s “Anti-Weaponization” fund was actually dead — as Blanche has claimed — Cornyn said, “yup, yup.”
Cornyn, during Wednesday’s hearing, pressed Blanche on that fund, which the acting attorney general created as part of an out-of-court settlement of a lawsuit by Trump against the Internal Revenue Service.
The fund was earmarked for purported victims of prosecutorial overreach by the Department of Justice.
Critics, who included Republican senators, called it a “slush fund” and feared it would be used to pay people convicted of assaulting police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol to supporters of Trump.
Sen. Thom Tillis speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box in Washington, D.C. on June. 3rd, 2026.
CNBC
Blanche previously told Congress the fund was dead, but he has refused to put that claim in writing in court filings related to a lawsuit challenging its legality. Trump has continued to express interest in the fund after Blanche said it was dropped amid legal challenges.
Cornyn on Wednesday asked whether Trump and other plaintiffs in his IRS case could sue to revive the fund. He pointed to language in the settlement agreement that says it “may be modified only upon the written agreement of the parties.”
Blanche replied, “I suppose they could bring a lawsuit, and then we would litigate it.”
“But even if we were litigating it, there’s no fund. So the results of such litigation, whatever it would be, wouldn’t be a revival of the fund.”
Cornyn later told reporters he was concerned about the language in the settlement leaving the door open to the fund being revived.
During the Judiciary hearing on Thursday, former Attorney General John Ashcroft testified in support of Blanche.
Epstein survivor Dani Bensky testified against the nomination, telling senators, “Todd Blanche has been at the helm of the release of nude images of survivors, the outing of ‘Jane Does’ and the exposure of more than a hundred victims’ identifying information and documents describing horrific acts of abuse, including my own.”
