By Hannah Rabinowitz, Katie Bo Lillis, Holmes Lybrand, Katelyn Polantz, Devan Cole, CNN
(CNN) — In twin hearings Wednesday, two nominees integral to executing President Donald Trump’s agenda worked to convince senators that they were up to the task: Todd Blanche for attorney general, and Jay Clayton to lead the US Intelligence community.
The men faced intense scrutiny from the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence committees on whether they could properly steer some of the federal government’s most critical divisions.
Blanche has a razor thin margin of error, as even a single Republican no-vote in committee could tank his nomination. That left him to walk a careful line between calmly assuring Republicans that he will continue his aggressive tenure at the Justice Department but without political interference from the president.
And though he appeared to achieve that goal, some Republicans still said Wednesday that they hadn’t made a final decision.
Clayton, who is currently the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York — Blanche’s former office — also faced tense questions about the winner of the 2020 election and a set of controversial subpoenas Clayton signed for New York Times journalists.
Here are takeaways from the hearings:
Projecting calm
Blanche focused on staying calm and deflecting tough questions from Democrats and a few skeptical Republicans, emphasizing he could serve as attorney general without White House political interference — despite the fact he was previously Trump’s personal attorney.
Overall, he stuck to this strategy. Unlike his predecessor, Pam Bondi, who was known for fiery, prepared responses, Blanche largely avoided relying on notes and handled attacks confidently.
There were some tense exchanges with Democratic Sens. Cory Booker and Adam Schiff. Booker, for instance, tried to push an argument about whether Blanche attended a private dinner with Paramount chairman David Ellison while the Justice Department was reviewing Paramount’s planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN. Blanche snapped: “You won’t even let me answer the question, man.”
Earlier, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat, used his time to criticize FBI Director Kash Patel and asked whether Blanche would allow Patel’s alleged misconduct, including misuse of FBI aircraft, to continue. Blanche replied, “That’s an extraordinarily obnoxious question, Senator.”
For Clayton, testy exchanges — particularly over election-related responses — exasperated lawmakers. Still, the overall tenor of the hearing suggested that his nomination is on track.
Clayton is also boosted by the man Trump chose as acting director, Bill Pulte, who has drawn bipartisan alarm over his complete lack of national security experience, and Democrats have been keen to keep his tenure short.
‘Anti-weaponization Fund’ key to GOP support
Two of the Justice Department’s most controversial efforts were front and center at Blanche’s hearing: the Epstein saga and the anti-weaponization fund.
Some conservatives say they’re still deciding whether to back Blanche after he signed the nearly $1.8 billion fund, an effort critics warned could finance allies of the president, including some who stormed the Capitol.
Blanche insisted that “the weaponization fund is dead,” and said that the tax addendum — which is the only part of the agreement between Trump’s personal attorneys and the Justice Department still stands — “binds only the IRS and by extension the Treasury” from investigating the president for potential crimes, not other agencie