Trump formally nominates his former personal lawyer Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general

(CNN) — President Donald Trump has formally tapped acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to take on the top law enforcement job on a more permanent basis, sending his nomination to the Senate on Monday.

Blanche – formerly one of Trump’s personal lawyers – would succeed Pam Bondi, who was fired in April.

The formal nomination now tees up the Senate confirmation process. Blanche will need just a majority vote to get confirmed, though his role in handling the Jeffrey Epstein files and in the attempt to create a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to benefit Trump’s allies could complicate the vote.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley indicated he will support Blanche and move quickly on the nomination.

“Blanche is well-qualified and has shown his dedication to restoring law and order across our country. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s work to process Blanche’s nomination is underway,” Grassley said in a statement.

But just how quickly Blanche’s nomination could advance remains in question. Asked Monday how swiftly he could move the nomination through his committee, Grassley wouldn’t say.

Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the committee, indicated to CNN that he plans to ask Blanche questions about the “anti-weaponization” fund.

“I have a lot of questions, including that,” Cornyn said when asked if he wanted to hear more specifically about Blanche’s role in the fund.

GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana – whose recent primary defeat has led him to become one of the most critical Republican voices on Trump’s recent push for the DOJ fund – is signaling that he still has major issues with Blanche.

Asked repeatedly on Monday night whether he could support Blanche, the senator offered the same line: “I have to be convinced that Todd is not the president’s personal attorney who happens to be attorney general – but that Todd is attorney general who used to be the president’s personal attorney.”

Asked by CNN about Trump’s recent remarks reiterating his support for that fund – despite Blanche’s own insistence that the fund is dead – Cassidy said: “Of course, that’s concerning.”

Cassidy said “we shall see” when asked what he could do to rein in the White House on the matter.

Active as acting AG

Serving as acting attorney general, Blanche has secured indictments against some of Trump’s personal foes like former FBI Director James Comey, rolled back gun control measures and issued subpoenas to journalists for their sources. He’s also announced sweeping fraud initiatives across the country, which work hand-in-hand with the White House’s “war on fraud.”

But critics, citing those same efforts, say that Blanche has effectuated the president’s personal and political agenda to use the Justice Department as his own attack mechanism.

The nomination comes in amid pushback against Trump and Blanche over the proposed $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate people who say they were wrongly prosecuted by the government. The fund was initially announced as part of a settlement between the Internal Revenue Service and the president, his adult sons and the Trump Organization.

Republicans on Capitol Hill revolted over the fund — with many especially anxious over the potential for January 6, 2021, rioters to get payouts.

Blanche essentially had to disavow the idea last week, and the Justice Department told two federal judges the plan is dead. However, several lawsuits are ongoing against the settlement.

Blanche, for his part, has vociferously stated his desire for the job and his support for the president. In a press conference just after he was appointed acting attorney general, Blanche told reporters that working for Trump is “the greatest honor of a lifetime.”

“If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say: ‘Thank you very much, I love you, sir,’” he said.

Epstein files and Maxwell interview

Blanche will also face questions about how the Justice Department handled the Epstein files and his interview with Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.

According to a transcript of her recent interview with the House Oversight Committee, Bondi repeatedly said that Blanche was responsible.

“He was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files,” Bondi said when asked for her role in the department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

DOJ has released approximately 3 million files compelled by Congress, but Bondi was pushed to explain why another 3 million still have not been released.

Blanche also will be asked about his interview with Maxwell he conducted last year. Shortly after, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas. The Justice Department has said the Bureau of Prisons is responsible for the move.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz, Kristen Holmes and Manu Raju contributed to this report.