Key Senator Says Any AG Pick Who Backed Jan. 6 ‘Dead on Arrival’

A potential nomination of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to lead the Justice Department full time could test a key Republican senator’s stated red line against supporting officials who’ve excused violence by US Capitol rioters.

Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer who spent a year as the department’s second-in-command, has emerged as a leading contender to be the president’s choice for the next attorney general, following the firing of Pam Bondi earlier this month. If nominated, Blanche would need the support of Senate Judiciary Committee swing vote Thom Tillis (R-N.C.).

The Justice Department’s move—less than two weeks into Blanche’s tenure at the helm of the department—to throw out convictions against members of extremist right-wing groups involved in planning the Capitol riot may complicate his prospects.

Tillis has pledged to vote against any nominees who’ve justified violence against police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

That stance led Tillis to derail the nomination last year of Ed Martin, a former “Stop the Steal” organizer and Trump’s initial pick to lead the Washington US attorney’s office.

Tillis reiterated his position Wednesday, saying that any attorney general nominee who “said anything the least bit excusing the behavior of January 6th is dead on arrival.”

Still, he appeared open to Blanche as a potential attorney general.

Tillis said his opposition to nominees who’ve excused violence on Jan. 6 is “not a broad brush” and wouldn’t include, for example, implementation of Trump’s sweeping pardons for Capitol riot participants.

“I supported Todd in his current role. We’ll just need to look at the background. For me, the key is finding any evidence of excusing the events of January the 6th,” Tillis said.

Tillis also said he hasn’t been able to look yet at Tuesday’s requests to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions. Those individuals, including members of the far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, saw their sentences commuted by Trump, but they were not part of the president’s pardons.

The North Carolina Republican, who isn’t running for re-election, has been unafraid to publicly criticize the Trump administration’s actions. Tillis has in particular criticized the Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, chair of the Federal Reserve whom Trump has threatened to fire.

Tillis has pledged to block the nomination for Kevin Warsh, Trump’s pick to replace Powell, until the criminal probe concludes. Following news reports that the Washington US attorney’s office, which has sought to subpoena the central bank, arrived unannounced to the Federal Reserve’s under-construction offices, Tillis posted a photo on X of the Three Stooges captioned, “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. at the crime scene.”

“It would be devastating to send the signal that the Fed is no longer independent,” Tillis told reporters Wednesday. He also warned that the criminal probe could discourage people from testifying before congressional committees in the future to avoid finding themselves in a “perjury trap.”

Confirmation Timing

It’s unclear how long Blanche will lead DOJ temporarily or whether he’d eventually be Trump’s attorney general nominee. The White House is in no hurry to make a permanent decision as Trump assesses Blanche’s performance in his current role, Bloomberg News reported.

Blanche said at an April 7 press conference that he would be honored to serve in any role Trump wanted him to serve in.

“If President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that’s an honor. If he chooses to nominate me, that’s an honor,” he said. “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.’ So I don’t have any goals or aspirations beyond that.”

Blanche can serve in the acting role for 210 days under a federal law for filling vacancies while the Senate considers whomever Trump nominates to be confirmed as attorney general. That clock can restart if a nominee is rejected or withdrawn, extending the time an official may serve in an acting capacity.