Blanche defends "anti-weaponization fund"

Happening right now on Capitol Hill, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is appearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. It is his first appearance since he started leading the Justice Department. And he is facing questions on a number of issues, including the just created $1.7 billion DOJ anti-weaponization fund. Here's an exchange on that with Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen. There's also an individual who, after being pardoned by the president, went on to molest two children. And that person actually tried to buy the silence of these children by saying that he would pay them some of the funds that he was hoping to get from your slush fund. Can you commit to making the rule so that that person is not eligible for a payout under this fund? Well, you're obviously lying in your question because there's no way that this person committed to that. The slush fund, as you call it, which didn't exist--

I am sure-- But I can commit--

Mr. Attorney General, don't ever do that again. I am reporting what he said. He said on the expectation that he hoped to get some of the funds from a payout. He's been--

You said from the slush fund, Senator. And that didn't exist when he said that. A testy exchange there. Let's bring in CBS News justice reporter, Jake Rosen, who is monitoring this hearing for us today. Good to see you today, Jake. So what stood out to you so far from what you've heard? Mugo, quite the day for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to be in front of this Senate panel, talking about the budget for 2027, and what potentially the Justice Department needs to bolster its mission, and, at the same time, coming off of yesterday's news of the announcement of this $1.7 billion fund. We should remind our audience, it's taxpayer money that's going to be transferred from the Department of Treasury over to the Justice Department for a fund. There will be four people appointed by whoever the attorney general is in the long-term-- whether it's Todd Blanche or someone else remains to be seen-- and one person appointed by congressional leadership. We should remind our audience again that Republicans control Congress, so will likely be at least one conservative-leaning member of this party that's going to decide who and how these payouts are conducted. There's very vague language so far that we know. And this is what senators have taken the most issue with. Will it be possible for people who have assaulted police officers and been convicted for doing so, even if they were pardoned by President Trump on the first day of his administration for their actions on January 6 be eligible? Will it simply be people who were investigated by the Biden-era Department of Justice or Obama-era Department of Justice? Well, Todd Blanche said in numerous question-and-answer exchanges, just like the one you saw, that he's going to let this commission decide for themselves what the parameters are. There really is not much oversight for this. There's not an automatic audit measure. And Todd Blanche said that not all of the information about who actually receives this money is going to be made public for what he says are, quote, "privacy concerns." That's where this tension is going to continue to lie between Congress, who appropriates money for different departments, including the Treasury. And the Department of Justice is going to really be a very tense for the next couple of weeks and months as we learn more details. It seemed like members of the Democratic Party who were questioning Blanche today were obviously upset. We didn't hear too much from Republicans, although we should note that Susan Collins, who's a longtime Trump ally on most issues, raised questions as well for just what this really means going forward and what this means for the president to settle a lawsuit with his own IRS and this fund to be created without any kind of congressional oversight.

Yeah, a lot of questions in that one. So what else is Blanche expected to be questioned about today? Well, there's a lot of question and answers on Department of Justice grants that were cut by Pam Bondi when she was attorney general and now under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, funds that again were approved by Congress and not sent out for payment. These are to local groups that work on initiatives ranging from supporting victims of sexual assault to supporting local law enforcement initiatives and law enforcement reforms and police reforms around the country. There's also the Epstein issue, which continues to pop up. We've heard from a number of Senators who are pushing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to give them answers on whether there is some kind of Investigation, as President Trump directed publicly in the Southern District of New York, of whether there's any kind of ongoing FBI or DOJ investigation. Todd Blanche has refused to commit to that so far in this hearing, saying that Jeffrey Epstein is dead. And that if there were more information to come to light, the Department of Justice would act. But as of now, it appears that any kind of ongoing and forward-looking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and any one of his alleged co-conspirators is not going to be the forefront of this Department of Justice under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

OK. Jake Rosen in Washington for us. Thank you for your time.