Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, criticized the committee’s Democrats over the nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general at a meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday, July 23, 2026. (Screenshot from committee webcast)
WASHINGTON – Members of the U.S. Senate tasked Thursday with advancing the nomination of incumbent Attorney General Todd Blanche to be the nation’s top law enforcement official postponed the vote for a week.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s slow vote to send the controversial nominee to the full Senate floor was in line with “standard committee practice,” according to a spokesman for Chairman Chuck Grassley.
The Iowa Republican and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., used the time allotted for the vote to comment extensively on Blanche’s nomination. Grassley then adjourned the meeting because too many Republicans were absent, which he described as “kind of rude.”
Grassley praised Blanche’s choice, saying the Justice Department under his leadership as deputy and acting attorney general “protected Americans every step of the way” but that Democrats on the committee “tried like clockwork to defame him.”
Democratic Committee member, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey led a forum Wednesday with former Justice Department officials and a survivor of abuse by slow sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.
The witnesses questioned Blanche’s suitability to lead the Justice Department after he oversaw the declassification of the Epstein files, which revealed the identities of several victims, and his role in establishing a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-gun” fund as part of President Donald Trump’s settlement with his own administration’s IRS.
Durbin said Thursday that he and his fellow Democrats oppose Blanche, who worked as Trump’s personal defense attorney before being appointed to the Justice Department, because he “will continue to serve the interests of Donald Trump rather than the American people.”
Senator Darline Graham joins
Committee members were expected to address other matters, including voting on federal judge nominees in Ohio and Oklahoma and approving subcommittee roles for Republican Sen. Darline Graham, sister of the slow Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. That was her sworn as a senator on July 14 after the sudden Death her brother.
The committee meeting was the first for Graham, who was not yet a member of the committee Blanche asked for nearly five hours during a July 15 confirmation hearing. Her arrival on the Republican Party-led committee brings the division among members back to 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats and is likely a positive development for Blanche.
Nominations require a majority vote to advance to the Senate. All eyes are on whether committee Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who announced his retirement last year, and John Cornyn of Texas will support Blanche after Trump effectively ended both of their Senate careers.
Trump heavily criticized Tillis for opposing the Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025 and said he would find candidates opposed to Tillis in his primaries. Earlier this year, Trump endorsed Cornyn’s primary opponent.
Both Tillis and Cornyn urged Blanche to formally end the “anti-gun” fund during his hearing.
While Cornyn was present at Thursday morning’s Judiciary Committee meeting, Tillis was one of several missing members. Grassley’s spokesman attributed Tillis’ absence to a Senate Banking Committee meeting that took place just a half-hour before the Judiciary Committee was scheduled to meet. Tillis’ office did not immediately respond to a question about his absence.
Blanche served as a United States Attorney in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 2006 to 2014.
He eventually left the Justice Department to work in private law, representing Trump as his personal defense attorney in three criminal cases in 2023 and 2024.
Trump appointed Blanche as acting attorney general in March 2025 with the approval of Senate Republicans.
Trump announced Blanche was named his choice for attorney general in early June, just over two months after former Attorney General Pam Bondi took office departure.
