Todd Blanche confirmation hearing grills ICE and immigration records

The biggest factual gap runs through the IRS settlement. NPR says the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund was created in Trump’s IRS lawsuit settlement, that Blanche called it dead, but that the part protecting “Trump, his family and his businesses from IRS audits of past tax returns remains in place.” NPR also says Cornyn pressed Blanche into confirming the settlement is still “an enforceable contract.” Slate similarly says Blanche signed a deal giving Trump and his family/businesses audit immunity. Breitbart mentions the fund, but frames it as meant to “compensate individuals unfairly investigated by the government during the Biden years” and quotes Blanche saying “the weaponization fund is dead”; it does not mention the audit protection or enforceable-contract point. Newsmax’s Blanche hearing story does not cover the fund at all. ICE is another asymmetrical area. Guardian reports Mexico asked state attorneys general to criminally investigate immigrant deaths in ICE custody or raids, and gives the count: “17 Mexican immigrants” have died since Trump’s second term began, “14 in ICE custody and three in agency operations.” Axios reports Trump reversed a DHS suspension of ICE vehicle stops after fatal shootings in Maine and Houston, says neither target was the intended target, and cites at least “22 people” shot at by ICE agents, with “six” killed, including “three U.S. citizens.” The right-leaning pieces do not include those ICE-death figures or Mexico’s investigation request; Breitbart’s separate ICE item instead centers a Canadian woman in ICE custody after allegedly assaulting a juvenile Trump supporter. The Epstein language diverges sharply. NPR calls the women behind Blanche “victims of the convicted sex offender” and says DOJ failed to properly redact “victims’ private information and photos.” Newsmax, through Dershowitz, uses distancing language: “people who say they were victimized,” “people who claim they’re survivors or victims,” and even “We don’t know whether they’re survivors, victims, complicitous.” The right also carried a Jack Smith records angle the left barely developed. Newsmax says Grassley asked Blanche to investigate records showing Smith’s team reviewed texts involving “dozens of lawmakers,” and quotes Rep. Russ Fulcher calling it a “separation of powers, illegal search.” Slate only notes Blanche seemed open to investigating Jack Smith; the Fulcher phone, “44” lawmakers, and filter-team claims are absent. One question left unanswered across the board: whether DOJ, under Blanche, will take any specific action on ICE shooting or custody-death investigations beyond receiving complaints or running the already mentioned FBI inquiry in Maine.