Todd Blanche has an awkward moment when asked about his friendship with Trump

President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general, Todd Blanche, faced tough questioning during his confirmation hearing over issues that have dogged the Department of Justice in the past year and a half. During the intense questioning from Democrats and some Republicans, Blanche had an awkward slip-up after he was asked if he considered the president his friend. The exchange led to lawmakers further pressing him on whether he would work for Trump, and not the people, if confirmed as the attorney general.

The current acting attorney general faced hours of questioning in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, with lawmakers pressing him on a range of issues including his bias toward the president. Sen. John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, asked a string of questions about the nature of his relationship with Trump, including whether he considered the president a friend. "Are you and President Trump friends?" he asked. While answering, Blanche had a brief slip-up as he said, "I'm his lawyer. Uh, was his lawyer. And now I'm the deputy attorney general." The fumble gave an unintentional nod to an ongoing concern among Democrats that his personal relationship with the president affects his ability to serve the American people.

Sen. Adam Schiff also pressed Blanche on the same issue, bringing up the hush money case in New York, the January 6 case, and the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, in which Blanche represented Trump as his attorney. While the acting attorney general declared that he had recused himself from all those cases, Schiff brought up a statement of Blanche that he shared at a CPAC event where he bragged about ridding the Justice Department of those who worked on those prosecutions. 

"You said at CPAC a couple of months ago, 'There is not a single man or woman at the Department of Justice who had anything to do with those prosecutions,' referring to the prosecutions of the president. So you're saying it's not a conflict of interest for you to be involved in firing prosecutors who prosecuted your former client?" Schiff asked. Blanche said he only made a statement and he had indeed recused himself from all those cases. 

Another prominent topic on the issue was the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund that Blanche helped establish as part of a settlement to end Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns. While Blanche proclaimed that the fund is dead, the settlement still protects Trump, his family, and his businesses from IRS audits of past tax returns. On this, Republican Senator John Cornyn from Texas pressed him, citing that the language of the contract says Trump "has not agreed in writing" to officially kill the fund, and that the settlement is still a deal that is an enforceable contract. Blanche confirmed the observation, saying that Trump's attorneys can claim the Justice Department breached the contract by not moving forward with the fund.

With this, Blanche's confirmation now looks shaky, as he needs the support of all Republicans for the nomination to clear the committee. This was his second nomination hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which last year approved him to serve as deputy attorney general.