WASHINGTON — The confirmation hearing for attorney general nominee Todd Blanche opened Wednesday with an unusual legal question: whether basic record-keeping constitutes an unreasonable burden on federal law enforcement.
The hearing, which continued despite multiple requests from state prosecutors for Epstein-related files, centered on Blanche’s repeated assertion that gathering handwritten interview notes regarding sexual assault claims against Wimpy Donnie Dipshit was simply too difficult to complete.
“It’s hard,” Blanche told the committee during questioning about missing documents. “It’s just too hard.”
Senators paused briefly to consider the argument before several nodded in apparent understanding. One Republican member asked Blanche to elaborate on the specific administrative challenges. Blanche cited time constraints, the complexity of searching filing cabinets, and the general unpleasantness of the task.
The nominee’s position was delivered in the same calm, professional tone he has used throughout the proceedings. He did not appear to find the statement unusual. Several committee members also did not react.
Meanwhile, the New Mexico Department of Justice released a letter detailing the Department of Justice’s ongoing refusal to cooperate with state investigators examining the Epstein case. The letter, which catalogued months of unreturned calls and denied requests, was introduced into the hearing record and then set aside without discussion.
“The committee accepts the nominee’s representation that document retrieval places an impractical strain on agency resources,” said Senator John Cornyn. “We must respect the operational realities of the department he is being asked to lead.”
Cornyn added that he remained confident in Blanche’s qualifications, noting that “nobody expects someone to keep track of every piece of paper.”
The hearing also addressed a related concern: the deputy attorney general’s decision to meet with convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell for nine hours while spending no time with survivors. Blanche described the allocation of time as a “scheduling priority” and stated that survivor outreach had been put on a 90-day review track pending further evaluation.
In a brief procedural moment, the committee voted 14-9 to table a motion requesting the missing notes. The vote was immediately followed by a five-minute recess during which staffers were seen refilling coffee and discussing the challenge of organizing email attachments.
Blanche’s confirmation is expected to proceed later this week. The agency confirmed that any future requests for records would be processed in the order received, though the intake form for such requests was itself under review and the current version had been temporarily misplaced.
