Senate Judiciary Democrats Demand Todd Blanche Answer To Dozens Of Oversight Requests Ignored By Justice Department

Senate Judiciary Democrats Demand Todd Blanche Answer To Dozens Of Oversight Requests Ignored By Justice Department

As Todd Blanche's nomination for Attorney General is under consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee and he's been heavily involved in key DOJ issues, it's imperative that the Committee receive sufficient responses to the laundry list of outstanding inquiries be provided before his hearing

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led all Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats in pressing Todd Blanche for answers on dozens of oversight matters that remain outstanding, either due to no response, insufficient response, or only partial response from DOJ.

In light of the unprecedented decision to combine Todd Blanche's Attorney General nomination hearing with the annual Justice Department oversight hearing, the Senators deem these responses as critical ahead of the July 15 hearing, given Blanche's leadership role over many of these issues and direct responsibility answering for DOJ's actions now that he serves as Acting Attorney General.

"We write to request immediate responses to the dozens of oversight requests we have made of the Department of Justice (DOJ) throughout the 119th Congress that remain outstanding. Although not all members signed each letter, we all agree that it is critical the Department respond to all Congressional oversight. You currently seek Senate confirmation as Attorney General, but you also currently serve as the most senior Senate-confirmed official at the Department, and consequently, you are also responsible for ensuring that DOJ abides by Congress's constitutional oversight authority. Additionally, given your tenure as the Deputy Attorney General, and now as Acting Attorney General, the Committee cannot properly assess your nomination without these responses, due to the fact that these issues reflect on your character and abilities as an attorney and public servant," wrote the Senators.

"As the Department has had months, and more than a year in many instances, to provide these responses, please ensure that the Committee receives complete responses to all the following requests by July 8," concluded the Senators.

The Senators cite the following outstanding requests with no response:

• January 29, 2025 Letter Requesting Access to Volume II of Special Counsel Smith's Report
• February 3, 2025 Letters Regarding Purges of Senior Career Civil Servants Across DOJ and FBI
• February 4, 2025 Letter Regarding Reassignment of Assistant U.S. Attorneys to Immigration Enforcement
• February 20, 2025 Letter Regarding Replacement of Career Ethics Officials With Inexperience Political Appointees
• February 26, 2025 Letter Regarding Compliance with the CLOUD Act
• March 3, 2025 Letter Regarding Termination and Redirection of National Security Career Civil Servants Toward Immigration Enforcement
• March 20, 2025 Letter Regarding Shuttering of DOJ's Public Integrity Section
• March 21, 2025 Letter Regarding Trump Administration Reduction and Termination of BOP Retention Incentives
• March 26, 2025 Letter Regarding Baseless Termination of Pardon Attorney
• March 31, 2025 Letter Regarding Blanche's Confirmation Hearing Testimony
• April 1, 2025 Letter Regarding DOJ's Position on Scope of January 6 Pardons Covering Unrelated, Subsequent Criminal Conduct
• April 1, 2025 Letter Regarding DOJ's Role in President Trump's Baseless Assertion that President Biden's Pardons Are Void
• April 18, 2025 Letter Regarding U.S. Marshal Visit to Former Pardon Attorney Oyer
• April 30, 2025 Letter Regarding DOJ Grant Terminations
• May 2, 2025 Letter Regarding then-Attorney General Bondi's Lobbying Private Prison Contractor Conflicts of Interest
• May 8, 2025 Letter Regarding Change to Department Guidance on Subpoenaing Information About Confidential Sources from Journalists
• May 21, 2025 Record Preservation Request Regarding Pattern and Practice Investigations
• June 9, 2025 Letter Regarding Detention of SEIU President Huerta
• June 12, 2025 Letter Regarding Ed Martin's Abuses at DOJ
• June 12, 2025 Letter Regarding BIA Decision to Weaken Legal Protections for DACA
• June 19, 2025 Letter Requesting Information Regarding Alleged Misconduct by Emil Bove in United States v. Nejad
• July 14, 2025 Letter Regarding Weaponization of Immigration Court Hearings to Trap and Arrest Immigrants
• July 16, 2025 Letter Regarding Termination of Director of DOJ's Departmental Ethics Office
• July 16, 2025 Letter Regarding then-DAAG Bove's Role in Epstein Files Review
• July 23, 2025 Letter Regarding DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility's Investigation into Emil Bove's Alleged Misconduct in United States v. Nejad
• July 28, 2025 Letter Regarding Arrangement of Ghislaine Maxwell Interview and Review of Epstein Files
• August 7, 2025 Letter Regarding Transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to Minimum-Security Prison
• September 3, 2025 Letter Regarding Hiring Jared Wise, Convicted January 6 Law Enforcement Assaulter, as a Senior Adviser at DOJ
• September 3, 2025 Letter Regarding Deployment of National Guard to Chicago
• September 4, 2025 Letter Regarding Partisan Terminations of Career Civil Servants
• September 5, 2025 Letter Regarding Politicization of DOJ's Antitrust Division
• September 15, 2025 Letter Regarding Diminished National Security Expertise and Capacity Due to Terminations and Reassignments
• September 23, 2025 Questions for the Record Following the September 16, 2025 Hearing Concerning Oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with Director Patel
• September 23, 2025 Letter Regarding Termination of Tom Homan Corruption Investigation
• September 30, 2025 Letter Regarding Use of JAG Officers as DOJ Immigration Judges
• September 30, 2025 Follow-up Letter Regarding Restitution Payments for Convicted January 6 Insurrectionists
• October 14, 2025 Questions for the Record Following the October 7, 2025 Hearing Concerning Oversight of the Department of Justice with then-Attorney General Bondi
• October 29, 2025 Letter Regarding President Trump's $230 Million Taxpayer Funded Settlement Requests
• October 29, 2025 Letter Regarding Unlawfulness of President Trump's Military Strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific
• October 30, 2025 Letter Regarding Partisan Deployment of Election Monitors
• November 6, 2025 Letter Regarding DOJ's Voter Roll Requests to States
• November 19, 2025 Letter Regarding Partisan Terminations of FBI Agents and Intervention of U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of the District of Columbia
• December 9, 2025 Letter Regarding DOJ and FBI Weaponization Against Members of Congress for Constitutionally Protected Speech Reiterating Federal Law
• January 22, 2026 Letter Regarding Killing of Renée Good
• January 26, 2026 Letter Regarding Creation of Second Amendment Section within DOJ's Civil Rights Division
• January 28, 2026 Letter Regarding Blanche Cryptocurrency Conflicts
• January 29, 2026 Follow-up Letter on DOJ's Voter Roll Requests to States
• February 9, 2026 Record Preservation Request Regarding Investigations of Senators Kelly and Slotkin's Constitutionally Protected Speech Reiterating Federal Law
• February 25, 2026 Request for Investigation into Decision to Block Use of Force Investigation in January 7 Killing of Renée Good
• February 26, 2026 Record Preservation Request Regarding Review, Redaction, and Production of Epstein Files under theEpstein Files Transparency Act and Earlier Reviews
• March 9, 2026 Record Preservation Request Regarding Allegations Against President Trump within Epstein Files and Missing FBI 302 Interview Memorializations
• March 16, 2026 Letter Regarding OCDETF Operation Trip Knot's Uncovering of Financial Links to Jeffrey Epstein
• March 16, 2026 Letter Regarding DOJ's NPRM on Interfering with State Bar Disciplinary Processes
• March 16, 2026 Criminal Referral Regarding Former Secretary Noem's Perjury Before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees
• April 13, 2026 Letter Regarding Former Attorney General Bondi's Departure
• April 15, 2026 Letter Regarding Halbank Deferred Prosecution Agreement
• April 20, 2026 Records Preservation Request Regarding Incidents FBI Director Patel's Impairment and Absences on the Job
• April 26, 2026 Letter Regarding Status of Investigation into then-Federal Reserve Chair Powell
• May 11, 2026 Letter Regarding BOP Policies Concerning Transgender Inmates
• May 18, 2026 Letter Regarding Blanche Recusal Issues
• May 26, 2026 Letter Regarding Purported Anti-Weaponization Fund

The Senators cite the following outstanding requests with only partial or insufficient response:

• February 28, 2025 Letter Regarding Shuttering of Task Force KleptoCapture
• March 11, 2025 Letter Regarding Investigation of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund
• March 17, 2025 Letter Regarding DOJ's Election Threats Task Force
• March 26, 2025 Letter Regarding Baseless Termination of Pardon Attorney
• March 28, 2025 Letter Regarding Termination of Immigration Judges at Executive Office
• of Immigration Review
• April 10, 2025 Letter Regarding Cryptocurrency Enforcement
• May 15, 2025 Letter Requesting then-Attorney General Bondi's Legal Memorandum Concluding President Trump's Receipt of $400 Million Qatari Jet Was "Legally Permissible"
• July 1, 2025 Letter Regarding Emil Bove's Direction to DOJ Officials to Mislead Courts
• July 17, 2025 Letter Regarding Baseless Voter Fraud Investigations
• July 18, 2025 Letter Regarding July 7 DOJ/FBI Memo on Jeffrey Epstein Files and Death by Suicide
• July 28, 2025 Letter Regarding Blanche's Interview of Ghislaine Maxwell
• September 15, 2025 Letter Regarding Attempt to Unlawfully Remove Unaccompanied Children
• September 26, 2025 Letter Regarding U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia and Attempted Prosecution of Former FBI Director Comey
• February 13, 2026 Letter Regarding Removal of Assistant Attorney General for DOJ's Antitrust Division Slater

For a PDF copy of the letter sent to Blanche, click here.

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