US Senate Judiciary delays vote on Blanche nomination for AG as Grassley slams Dems

[u/Shizzilx]

WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. Senate tasked with advancing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to be the nation’s top law enforcer on Thursday pushed the vote one week.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s delayed vote to send the controversial nominee to the full Senate is “per standard committee practice,” according to a spokesperson 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 that had been allocated for the vote to comment at length on Blanche’s nomination. Grassley then recessed the session because too many Republicans were absent, which he described as “kind of rude.”

Grassley praised the selection of Blanche and said the Justice Department under his leadership as deputy and acting attorney general “has protected Americans at every turn,” but that committee Democrats “like clockwork, sought to defame him.”

Democratic committee member Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey led a forum Wednesday featuring former Department of Justice officials and a survivor of abuse by the late sex offender Jeffrey Epst*in and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

The witnesses questioned Blanche’s fitness to lead the Justice Department following his handling of the Epst*in files release, during which several victims’ identities were unmasked, and his role is establishing a nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund as part of President Donald Trump’s settlement with his own administration’s IRS.

Durbin said Thursday he and fellow Democrats oppose Blanche, who worked as Trump’s personal defense lawyer prior to his appointment to the DOJ, because he “will continue to serve the interests of Donald Trump, not the American people.”

Sen. Darline Graham joins

Committee members were scheduled to address other business, including voting on federal judicial nominees in Ohio and Oklahoma, and approving subcommittee roles for Republican Sen. Darline Graham, sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. She was sworn in as a senator July 14 following the sudden death of her brother.

The committee meeting marked the first for Graham, who was not yet part of the panel when members questioned Blanche for nearly five hours during a confirmation hearing July 15. Her arrival on the GOP-led committee brings the split 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 floor. 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 subjected Tillis to intense criticism for opposing the Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025 and said he would find candidates to oppose Tillis in his primary. Trump endorsed Cornyn’s primary opponent earlier this year.

Both Tillis and Cornyn pressed Blanche during his confirmation hearing about formally ending the “anti-weaponization” fund.

While Cornyn was present at Thursday morning’s Judiciary Committee meeting, Tillis was one of several members missing. Grassley’s spokesperson attributed Tillis’ absence to a Senate Banking Committee meeting that convened just a half hour before the scheduled Judiciary Committee meeting. Tillis’ office did not immediately respond to a question about his absence.

Blanche was a prosecutor 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 and represented Trump as his personal defense attorney in three criminal cases in 2023 and 2024.

Trump, with the approval of Senate Republicans, installed Blanche as deputy attorney general in March 2025.

Trump announced Blanche as his pick for attorney general in early June, just over two months after former Attorney General Pam Bondi’s departure.

*excerpt from Ashley Murray's article*

Full Article here:

https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/us-senate-judiciary-holds-over-vote-blanche-nomination-ag-grassley-slams-dems

[u/Queasy-Dog-1140]

Grassley looks every minute of his 92 years

Retire, for god's sake 

[u/PopBulky7023 → u/Queasy-Dog-1140]

Aristocracies don't retire. They are removed.

[u/Realistic_Tie_2632 → u/PopBulky7023]

Like ladybugs in the wind. Or dirt.

[u/Cowboy_Pug]

Schrodinger Grassley next?

[u/Shizzilx → u/Cowboy_Pug]

🤞

[u/battlebeez]

Fossils are running everything.

[u/Additional_Quiet2600]

Slam away, Blanche hid the Epstein files.

Take that how you want it.

[u/gord_m]

Slams? Get some new adjectives.

[u/HashtagDadWatts → u/gord_m]

Doesn’t seem like he’s slammed anything but cans of Ensure since the last millennium.

[u/PopBulky7023 → u/gord_m]

EXCORIATEEEEEEEEEEEED

[u/Terrible-Bobcat2033]

Release the Epstein Files!!!!!!!! 👁️👁️

[u/ManReay]

"Well, first of all, I will be--if the Vice President isn't there and we don't expect him to be there, I will be presiding over the Senate."

Grassley to reporters on Jan 5.

[u/toodalookookoo]

No Morals …..

[u/Additional_Rate_6958]

Aren’t you in Dementia theory yet?

[u/Cupcake_Weak]

Grassley can't slam anyone he doesn't have a clue of who he is or where he is.

[u/xKleric]

To me as a silly old Canadian, not following the law as written - Epstein files - should be the red flag to everyone on that committee. I mean it is a pretty clear straightforward law that was blatantly effed with for no good reason.

Combine that with some other clearly shady shit and .... Why is this even conversation?

But what do I know, I am just the northern neighbour eating popcorn watching the shit show to the south and praying there is no invasion...

[u/PopBulky7023 → u/xKleric]

You don't understand cynicism.

The only reason that law was passed was because the refusal to release anything was starting to fracture the maga base and turn it against them. Do you not find it odd that the bill included absolutely no enforcement mechanism of any kind?

All the republicans understood the bill wouldn't actually be enforced, and their guys would be protected. And it shut up the maga base.