2026年7月14日10:08:35.128Z / 路透社
华盛顿7月14日电（路透社）——托德·布兰奇即将于周三出席提名确认听证会，他背负的包袱本可能让往届司法部长提名人选落选。
这些包袱包括：他的客户名单里有提名他的总统；一项已被搁置的18亿美元“反武器化基金”，该基金被许多共和党人斥为鲁莽之举；以及民主党人、前检察官和杰弗里·爱泼斯坦受害者家属提出的一系列要求，他们敦促参议员投下反对票，称布兰奇在处理爱泼斯坦文件公开一事上处理失当。
立即订阅《每日案卷》新闻简报，将最新法律资讯直接发送至您的收件箱，开启您的晨间阅读。点击此处注册
尽管如此，共和党知情人士预计他将轻松获得确认。此次提名结果将决定谁将领导美国司法部——在这个司法部正在起诉被认为是唐纳德·特朗普总统对手的人士、且其是否独立于白宫的问题饱受质疑的时刻。
“他正处于确认提名的顺利轨道上，”前参议院司法委员会主席查克·格拉斯利的首席法律顾问迈克·戴维斯说道，他在特朗普阵营中仍是颇具影响力的外部声音。
正在协助布兰奇准备听证会的戴维斯预测，布兰奇将在8月休会前获得确认。
共和党信心增强
这种信心反映出参议院共和党人对该提名的看法发生了更广泛的转变——就在几周前，这项提名还岌岌可危，当时反武器化基金引发了该党对特朗普政府为数不多的公开反抗之一。熟悉提名流程的人士表示，布兰奇承诺放弃该基金，再加上他密集拜会参议员，已平息了大部分不满情绪。
周一，迈阿密一名联邦法官裁定，设立该基金并使特朗普及其家人免于接受国税局审计的和解协议，并非双方之间真正的法律纠纷，实际上在布兰奇这场高风险听证会的两天前，该协议已被宣布无效。
布兰奇曾是特朗普的私人律师，2025年3月被确认为司法部副部长，负责部门日常运营——其盟友称这一职位是司法部的稳定力量，而批评人士则称这是对特朗普忠诚者的庇护。今年春季帕姆·邦迪离职后，他成为代理司法部长，此后一直呼应特朗普关于选举欺诈的虚假言论，同时领导司法部起诉被认为是总统对手的人士，其中包括前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米。
美国司法部周一未回应置评请求。布兰奇及其盟友表示，他正在纠正往届政府的错误，并将重点放在减少暴力犯罪上。
曾为前参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔和参议院司法委员会领导人服务的前参议院高级助手迈克·弗拉戈索表示，布兰奇代理司法部长的身份使他更有可能获得确认。
“我认为他们可能意识到他已经担任了这个职位，并且会继续履职，”弗拉戈索在谈及参议院共和党人时说道。
关键参议员仍未表态
布兰奇的提名确认取决于能否获得委员会所有共和党议员的支持。这包括北卡罗来纳州参议员汤姆·蒂利斯和德克萨斯州参议员约翰·科宁，两人都将在数月内结束任期，且均未公开透露投票意向。
蒂利斯在6月底与布兰奇会面后，在CNN节目中表示，他对布兰奇有“积极倾向”，前提是该基金被“废止”。他的办公室未回应置评请求。布兰奇已向议员们表示该基金已不复存在，但司法部拒绝将此书面化，也拒绝解除与之相关的税收豁免条款。
科恩上月在X平台上表示，他与布兰奇的会面进展积极，布兰奇承诺就税收豁免协议向他进行简报，他将在听证会结束前暂不表态。他的办公室拒绝透露该简报是否已举行。
爱泼斯坦受害者权益倡导者抓住了这一不确定性，在北卡罗来纳州和德克萨斯州竖起广告牌，指责布兰奇背叛受害者，还在新奥尔良竖起广告牌针对路易斯安那州共和党参议员约翰·肯尼迪。
“布兰奇背叛了爱泼斯坦的受害者，”北卡罗来纳州夏洛特市的一块广告牌上写道。新奥尔良的另一块广告牌则写道：“布兰奇保护掠夺者。”
布兰奇为司法部处理爱泼斯坦文件公开的方式进行了辩护，称任何受害者身份的识别都是意外，并承诺只要有证据，就会将肇事者绳之以法。
弗拉戈索表示，根据他在国会山与相关人士的交谈，对反武器化基金和爱泼斯坦事件的担忧不太可能让他的候选资格泡汤。
戴维斯也表示赞同：“此前的阻碍是反武器化基金，现在这一问题已经解决。如果他丢失任何共和党议员的选票，我会感到惊讶。”
参议院司法委员会有影响力的议员林赛·格雷厄姆在与布兰奇会面后已表示支持他，目前尚不清楚他的去世会对周三的提名确认听证会产生何种影响。
多方批评
布兰奇面临来自多方面的批评。一些极右翼活动人士和特朗普盟友表示，他在撤销对2021年1月6日国会山袭击事件被告的指控或为他们争取赦免方面行动过于缓慢。
民主党人认为，他只是在执行特朗普的意愿，而非独立行事。超过1200名来自两党的前司法部官员联名发表信件，警告称他的任期已经损害了该机构和美国的公共安全。
以罗德岛州参议员谢尔顿·怀特豪斯为首的参议院民主党人提交了一系列记录申请和监督信件，对布兰奇担任代理司法部长期间的行为提出质疑。
“如果共和党参议员认为布兰奇不会加速司法系统的武器化，那他们是在自欺欺人，”怀特豪斯在上个月的一篇专栏文章中写道。
预计民主党人将在听证会上就布兰奇的独立性、判断力以及该基金问题对他进行猛烈抨击。
“本届政府在听证会上向来好斗，”弗拉戈索说，“如果他乖乖接受民主党人的攻击，我会感到惊讶。”
丹·罗森茨威格-齐夫 华盛顿报道；马修·刘易斯 编辑
Blanche on ‘glide path’ for US attorney general confirmation, Republican insiders say
2026-07-14T10:08:35.128Z / Reuters
WASHINGTON, July 14 (Reuters) – Todd Blanche will walk into his confirmation hearing on Wednesday carrying baggage that might have sunk past attorney general nominees.
That includes a client list featuring the president who nominated him, a since-shelved $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that many Republicans called reckless and a stack of demands from Democrats, former prosecutors and Jeffrey Epstein survivors urging senators to vote no after they say he botched the release of the Epstein files.
Jumpstart your morning with the latest legal news delivered straight to your inbox from The Daily Docket newsletter. Sign up here.
And yet, Republican insiders expect him to easily win confirmation. The outcome will determine who leads the Justice Department at a time when it is pursuing prosecutions of President Donald Trump’s perceived adversaries and facing questions about its independence from the White House.
“He’s on a glide path to confirmation,” said Mike Davis, a former chief counsel for nominations to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley who remains an influential outside voice in the Trump orbit.
Davis, who is helping Blanche prepare for the hearing, predicted that Blanche would be confirmed before the August recess.
REPUBLICAN CONFIDENCE GROWS
That confidence reflects a broader shift in how Senate Republicans view a nomination that looked shakier just weeks ago, when the anti-weaponization fund set off one of the party’s few open revolts against the Trump administration. Those familiar with the process say Blanche’s pledge to abandon the fund, paired with a blitz of meetings with senators, has calmed much of that unrest.
On Monday, a federal judge in Miami ruled that the settlement that had created the fund and shielded Trump and his family from IRS audits was never a genuine legal dispute between two parties, effectively nullifying the agreement two days before Blanche’s high-stakes hearing.
Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, was confirmed as deputy attorney general in March 2025 to run the department’s day-to-day operations — a role allies cast as the steadying hand at Justice and critics call cover for a Trump loyalist. He became acting attorney general this spring after Pam Bondi’s departure, and has since echoed Trump’s false election-fraud claims while overseeing a department that has pursued prosecutions of the president’s perceived adversaries, including former FBI Director James Comey.
The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. Blanche and his allies have said he is righting the wrongs of previous administrations and focusing on reducing violent crime.
Mike Fragoso, a former top Senate aide who served former Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary leaders, said Blanche’s position as acting attorney general makes his confirmation more likely.
“I think they probably recognize he has the job and is going to keep doing the job,” Fragoso said of Senate Republicans.
KEY SENATORS REMAIN UNDECIDED
Blanche’s confirmation hinges on keeping the support of each Republican on the committee. That includes senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, both of whom are in their last months in office and both of whom have not said publicly which way they will vote.
Tillis, after meeting with Blanche in late June, said on CNN that he had a “positive predisposition” toward him, so long as the fund was made “inoperative.” His office did not respond to a request for comment. Blanche has told lawmakers the fund is dead, but the department has declined to put that in writing and has refused to unwind the tax-immunity provisions tied to it.
Cornyn said on X last month that he had a positive meeting with Blanche, who committed to briefing him on the tax-immunity agreement, and that he would withhold judgment until after the hearing. His office declined to say whether that briefing had taken place.
Advocates for Epstein survivors have seized on that uncertainty, erecting billboards in North Carolina and Texas accusing Blanche of betraying victims, along with one in New Orleans aimed at Senator John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican.
“Blanche betrayed Epstein survivors,” read one billboard in Charlotte, North Carolina. Another billboard in New Orleans read, “Blanche protects predators.”
Blanche has defended the Justice Department’s handling of the release of the Epstein files, calling any identification of victims accidental and promising to hold perpetrators accountable if and when evidence allows.
Fragoso said that based on conversations he has held with people on Capitol Hill, concerns over the weaponization fund and Epstein are unlikely to sink the candidacy.
Davis agreed: “The holdup was the weaponization fund, and that is over. I’d be surprised if he lost any votes.”
It was not immediately clear how the death of Senator Lindsey Graham, an influential member of the Judiciary Committee who had signaled his support for Blanche after meeting with him, would affect the confirmation hearing on Wednesday.
CRITICISM FROM MULTIPLE FRONTS
Blanche faces criticism from multiple directions. Some far-right activists and Trump allies say he has moved too slowly to dismiss charges or secure pardons for defendants in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
Democrats argue he has simply carried out Trump’s wishes rather than acting independently. More than 1,200 former Justice Department officials from both parties signed a letter warning that his tenure has already damaged the agency and the country’s public safety.
Senate Democrats led by Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island have filed a wave of records requests and oversight letters challenging Blanche’s conduct as acting attorney general.
“Republican senators who vote to confirm Blanche are deluding themselves if they believe he will do anything but accelerate the weaponization of the justice system,” Whitehouse wrote in an op-ed last month.
Democrats are expected to press Blanche aggressively at the hearing on his independence, his judgment and the fund.
“This administration has been pretty combative in hearings,” Fragoso said. “I’d be surprised if he takes attacks from the Democrats lying down.”
Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis