As Blanche hearing nears, Tillis may again decide the fate of a bad Trump nominee | Opinion
When the U.S. Senate considers Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general this week, all eyes will be on one Republican senator in particular: Thom Tillis.
Blanche will have his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Tillis is a member. His nomination cannot proceed without the support of every Republican committee member, and Tillis is viewed as a potential holdout.
As the hearing draws nearer, North Carolina’s senior senator is facing increased pressure to reject Donald Trump’s latest controversial Cabinet nominee. Epstein survivors have taken out a billboard near Charlotte urging a “no” vote on Blanche, who has bungled the Trump administration’s release of the Epstein files. Organizers have flooded his inbox and phone lines asking him to “block Blanche.”
In recent months, Tillis has expressed some reservations about Blanche, who served as deputy and now acting attorney general before being nominated to fill the position permanently. One potential sticking point for him has been Jan. 6. Blanche has praised the administration’s mass pardoning of Jan. 6 defendants, sought to vacate the convictions of key Jan. 6 conspirators and fired federal prosecutors who worked on Jan. 6 cases. Tillis initially said that put Blanche “in dangerous waters,” and he made clear that he would not support any Trump nominee who “expressed any sympathy or support” for Jan. 6 rioters. Blanche is someone who has done just that, but Tillis has since said he hasn’t seen “anything disqualifying” from Blanche on that matter. That doesn’t make sense, and Tillis should explain why he doesn’t consider Blanche’s public behavior disqualifying.
Another hard line for Tillis was the proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, established under Blanche’s leadership. The fund was designed to compensate people who claim they were unfairly targeted by the federal government, and drew broad condemnation from Republican senators, including Tillis. Blanche has since assured GOP skeptics that the fund is dead.
So which version of Tillis will we see when it comes time to vote on Blanche’s confirmation? Will it be the new Tillis, who has firmly stood by his principles and become one of the Trump administration’s toughest Republican critics? Or will it be the old Tillis, who talked tough but always caved?
At the moment, it seems Tillis may end up supporting Blanche. In a CNN appearance at the end of June, Tillis said he has a “positive predisposition towards Blanche” but noted that “if there’s even a whiff of a lack of independence, then that could influence my vote.”
To be clear, there’s been much more than a whiff. It’s a stench. Before joining the Department of Justice, Blanche was Trump’s personal defense attorney, representing Trump in three of the criminal cases brought against him. As deputy and now acting attorney general, he’s been one of Trump’s chief enforcers. The creation of the Jan. 6 slush fund is one of the biggest and most egregious examples, but it’s far from the only one. He’s pursued baseless prosecutions of Trump’s political foes, signed an agreement giving Trump and his family immunity from tax audits, installed inexperienced loyalists in key positions and declared “war” against “rogue activist judges.”
All of this makes Blanche a great future attorney general in the eyes of Trump. But for those who value a fair and impartial Department of Justice — and Tillis says he does — it should be disqualifying. Already, Blanche has broken the promises he made to senators before his confirmation as deputy attorney general last year. During that testimony, he said “political prosecutions should never happen, period” and vowed to “follow the law” if asked by Trump to do something illegal or immoral. No matter what reassurances Blanche may offer in his hearing this week, senators like Tillis now have reason to doubt them. Remember, Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi in part because he was frustrated with her inability to successfully prosecute his political enemies. A lack of independence is a requirement for the job.
We have seen Tillis have reservations about controversial Cabinet nominees, only to turn around and vote for them in the end. That happened last year with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. While Tillis initially indicated that he would oppose Hegseth, he flip-flopped at the last minute, giving Republicans the last vote needed for Hegseth’s confirmation. Tillis has since said he regrets that decision due to Hegseth’s “sophomoric sort of execution.”
Of course, that was before Tillis announced he would not run for reelection, and Trump had reportedly threatened to endorse a primary challenger against Tillis if he voted Hegseth’s nomination down. But Tillis has since freed himself from such political considerations, and has the opportunity to do the right thing this time. At the least, he has the opportunity to be consistent with his previous statements, instead of finding a way to wiggle free of them once again.
Deputy Opinion Editor Paige Masten covers politics and the 2026 elections for The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer.
This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "As Blanche hearing nears, Tillis may again decide the fate of a bad Trump nominee | Opinion."
