WATCH: Dem senator snaps after Acting AG Blanche accuses him of 'obviously lying' in heated exchange
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche accused Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., of lying during a line of questioning after the senator said a Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by President Donald Trump had discussed using future restitution money to ensure his child sexual abuse victims stayed quiet.
Blanche appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday to answer questions about the Justice Department's fiscal year 2027 budget. The hearing came a day after the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.776 billion fund for people who allege they were victims of federal government "lawfare."
Van Hollen, a ranking member on the committee, accused the Anti-Weaponization Fund of being a "slush fund" for Trump's allies, raising concerns that the money would go to individuals indicted and charged for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots. Trump pardoned and provided commutations to more than 1,500 people charged with and convicted of their role in the Capitol riots, including Andrew Paul Johnson, who was sentenced to life in prison in March 2026 for the sexual abuse of two minors.
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"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," Van Hollen asked Blanche. "Can you commit to making the rules 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," Blanche said. "The slush fund, as you call it... didn't exist."
Van Hollen pointed at Blanche and warned him.
"Don't ever do that again. I am reporting what he said," Van Hollen said. "He said on the expectation that he hoped to get some of the funds from a payout."
Florida authorities reported that Johnson had promised his victims he would share money he expected to receive as restitution after being pardoned by Trump. In a Discord message to one of his victims, Johnson shared that "he was being awarded $10,000,000 as a result of being a ‘jan 6’er’" and he'd be putting the victim "in his ‘will’ to take any money he had left over," according to an affidavit that Van Hollen read to Blanche later in the hearing.
Blanche pointed out that the Anti-Weaponization Fund or the alleged "slush fund" didn't even exist when Johnson made those promises to the victims.
"This is the fund that the president and all of you have been telegraphing all along that you are going to use to help the president's friends," Van Hollen said.
The Justice Department's pardon attorney, Ed Martin, is the only known Trump administration official who has explicitly called for those convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riots to receive restitution for the "lawfare" they faced. However, Democratic senators argue the Justice Department has taken steps to make restitution for the Jan. 6 defendants possible.