作者： root

Massachusetts lawmakers pass bill to scrap ‘offensive language’ from state’s General Laws

2026-06-08 22:39:25-04:00 / Fox News

The measure, which updates 346 sections of General Laws, now heads to Gov Maura Healey’s desk

By Landon Mion Fox News

Published June 8, 2026 10:39pm EDT | Updated June 8, 2026 10:40pm EDT

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on FoxNews.com.

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

blob:https://www.foxnews.com/b583ab13-72b9-4473-b476-3a0f181716fd

Listen to this article

3 min

The Massachusetts legislature passed a bill that would remove “outdated and offensive language” used to describe people with disabilities in the state’s General Laws.

The measure would eliminate various terms, including “handicapped,” “disabled,” and the “r-word” in favor of language such as “persons with a disability” and “person with an intellectual or developmental disability.”

The bill, which was introduced by Democratic state Sen. Pat Jehlen and listed with 17 petitioners, now heads to Democrat Gov. Maura Healey’s desk.

The 61-page bill updates 346 sections of Massachusetts law.

CALIFORNIA SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER ‘PERSONALLY OFFENDED’ WHEN SPEAKER SAYS ‘HOMELESS’ INSTEAD OF ‘UNHOUSED’

The 61-page bill updates 346 sections of Massachusetts law.(Getty Images)

“Language is constantly changing.And it’s changing because of the activism of people who were ignored and demeaned for too long,” Democrat state Sen. Pat Jehlen, the Senate’s primary sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement. “When people tell us they feel insulted and offended by the use of outdated words, we worked to change the legal language. It took a long time, because we kept finding more examples of offensive language. Language and activism will continue to evolve, and there’ll always be more work to do, but this is a gigantic step forward in respect.”

Some of the updated language featured in the bill includes replacing “disabled person” with “person with a disability,” “handicapped” with “disability” and “retarded” with phrases such as “person with an intellectual or developmental disability.”

The legislation also scraps terms such as “crippled” and “deformed” when referring to people with disabilities.

The measure would eliminate various terms, including “handicapped,” “disabled,” and the “r-word.”(Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group)

The term “hearing-impaired” was revised to “deaf or hard of hearing” and the “chronically ill” was changed to “persons who are chronically ill.”

Additionally, the bill amends specific legal definitions, including changing the current definition of “caretaker” — which describes an individual or entity responsible for a “disabled person” — to instead use the phrase “a person with a disability.”

“When dusty and dangerous relics of a bygone era darken our laws, it creates the potential for real harm to residents today,” Senate President Karen Spilka, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Thanks to the voices of advocates like former Senate staff member Melissa Reilly and the leadership of Senator Jehlen and Senator Kennedy, the Legislature has acted to make our laws better represent who we are in 21st-century Massachusetts.”

MASSACHUSETTS DROPS CONTROVERSIAL GENDER IDEOLOGY MANDATE FOR LICENSING FOSTER CARE PARENTS

The bill now heads to Democrat Gov. Maura Healey’s desk.(Adam Glanzman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“With a White House that glorifies, and seemingly longs for, the days when many Americans were discriminated against because of who they are, now is the time to make sure our state laws respect and support the rights and dignity of our residents,” she added.

The passage of this measure comes after a 2024 law that renamed the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission to MassAbility, which state officials argued was a display of a broader effort to modernize disability services and promote inclusion. That law also reflected a broader move away from terms state officials described as outdated or offensive.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“As lawmakers, we know that words matter,” said state Speaker of the House Ronald J. Mariano, a Democrat.”This legislation is our latest effort to ensure that our state laws do not use antiquated words that carry negative connotations, words that also serve as a reminder of past injustices.”

The bill passed with broad legislative support, including unanimous recorded votes in both chambers.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Massachusetts GOP for comment.

特朗普正式提名前私人律师担任司法部长

2026年6月9日 09:56 / 联合早报

4月25日，白宫记者协会晚宴发生枪击事件后，布兰奇在随后召开的记者会上讲话。 （法新社）

美国总统特朗普星期一（6月8日）提名代理司法部长布兰奇正式出任司法部长，但围绕布兰奇的争议可能导致他的参议院确认提名之路面临阻力。

路透社报道，白宫8日宣布，已将布兰奇的提名提交参议院审议，这项提名将考验特朗普对参议院共和党人的影响力。

国会共和党人一直以来顺从于特朗普的要求，但随着美国中期选举临近，共和党内部日益表现出敢于抵制特朗普某些议程的迹象。

布兰奇原是特朗普的私人律师，特朗普去年重返白宫后，布兰奇于同年3月成为美国副司法部长。特朗普今年4月解雇司法部长邦迪后，就由布兰奇担任代理司法部长。

而布兰奇的表现显示他极愿意配合特朗普，包括动用司法部资源来打击特朗普眼中的政治对手，同时向特朗普的盟友提供帮助。布兰奇日前提出18亿美元（约23亿新元）的“反武器化基金”，目的是为声称遭到拜登前政府“迫害”的受害者作出补偿。由于共和党议员也广泛谴责这项计划，担忧反武器化基金将用于赔偿因2021年1月6日国会骚乱事件被判坐牢的暴徒，布兰奇最终称这项计划已撤销。

布兰奇要通过司法部长的提名必须获得参议院共和党人近乎一致的支持，共和党目前以53比47的微弱优势控制着参议院。

日媒：特朗普政府敦促中国恢复对日稀土供应

2026年6月9日 11:41 / 联合早报

美国总统特朗普政府敦促中国恢复对日本出口稀土，称此举关系全球供应链稳定。

根据路透社，日经新闻星期二（6月9日）引述多名美国和日本的匿名外交消息人士报道这项消息。

路透社此前引述中国海关数据报道，自去年12月以来，中国已基本停止对日本出口镝、铽、氧化钇等重稀土，晶片制造所需的关键金属镓的出口也几乎全面暂停，仅有极少量氧化钇仍维持零星出货。

日本经济产业部长赤泽亮正此前在中国江苏省苏州市召开的亚太经合组织（APEC）贸易部长会议期间，对中方管制稀土出口措施表达关切。

日本能源金属矿产资源机构的数据显示，日本每年约2万吨的稀土需求主要依赖进口，2024年有70%来自中国。

特朗普警告内坦亚胡：勿再攻伊朗 否则就只能靠自己了

2026年6月9日 10:34 / 联合早报

特朗普告诉美国新闻网站Axios，他警告内坦亚胡，“你最好小心点，否则你很快就只能靠自己了。” （法新社）

美国总统特朗普告诉美国媒体，他警告以色列总理内坦亚胡，如果他再次与伊朗开战，可能会陷入孤立无援的境地。

特朗普在美国新闻网站Axios星期一（6月8日）刊登的电话采访中说，以色列7日打击伊朗的计划“很晚才通知我们”，“他们已经开始行动了，但我最终设法制止了他们”。

特朗普说：“我告诉他，‘比比（内坦亚胡的昵称），你最好小心点，否则你很快就只能靠自己了。”

他称五个中东国家致电要求他向内坦亚胡施压，迫使内坦亚胡停止军事行动。

另据新华社报道，内坦亚胡8日在电视讲话中说，目前对伊朗的袭击已“暂停”，但伊朗若恢复袭击以色列，以色列将以武力回应。

内坦亚胡还说，伊朗和黎巴嫩真主党试图通过袭击以色列来报复以军对黎巴嫩的袭击，他对此不能接受。以色列将继续打击敌人，并“在必要时保卫自身”。

6月7日晚至8日，伊朗与以色列爆发自4月上旬美以伊停火以来最大规模交火。特朗普8日在社媒平台Truth Social发文说，“以色列和伊朗必须立即停止交火”。伊朗与以色列当天先后宣布停止袭击对方。

Trump steps up attacks on California’s election system

2026-06-09T02:34:28.202Z / Reuters

Summary

President disputes outcome of Los Angeles mayoral race

• US House speaker joins Trump in ridiculing pace of vote count
• California critique adds to mounting, unproven vote fraud claims

LOS ANGELES, June 8 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday repeated claims that California’s elections are rigged, disputing without evidence voter tallies showing the Republican candidate he endorsed in the Los Angeles mayor’s race ​appeared headed for defeat.

Trump’s attack on California’s election system and what he called the excessive amount of time it takes the Democratic-controlled state to count votes ​was the latest twist in his long-running narrative of elections being rigged against him and other Republicans.

Get weekly news and analysis on U.S. politics and how it matters to the world with the Reuters Politics U.S. newsletter. Sign up here.

In an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired on Sunday, Trump stormed out of an interview after the host, Kristen Welker, challenged his unproven assertions that California election officials were cheating because after several days they “aren’t even close” to finalizing the results.

On Monday, Trump questioned election returns showing Republican Spencer Pratt, the former reality TV star ​he backed in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, falling into third place behind two Democrats – incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and City Council member Nithya Raman – six days after ​polls closed.

“Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had,” Trump wrote. “Rigged Elections!”

California officials have countered ⁠that the state’s election system is subject to rigorous safeguards that include testing of voting equipment, strict controls on the chain of custody of ballots and verification of all signatures.

Trump also ​pointed to the California governor’s race, where the Republican he endorsed for that election, TV commentator Steve Hilton, was trailing two Democrats in the primary – former cabinet secretary Xavier Becerra and billionaire ​environmental activist Tom Steyer.

“Now they’ll be working on great guy Steve Hilton,” Trump wrote, seeming to suggest that Democrats were manipulating the primary vote count to exclude Hilton from the final contest.

Under California’s “open primary” system, all candidates for elective office compete on a single primary ballot – rather than on separate ballots for Democrats and Republicans – and the top two vote-getters in the primary advance to a general runoff election in November.

Bass emerged ​as the clear frontrunner among the 14 mayoral candidates, commanding nearly 35% of the votes counted as of Monday. Raman, who started out in third place, edged past Pratt for the ​No. 2 spot on Sunday and remained ahead of him in second place on Monday with 27.12% of the votes tallied.

Pratt, still trailing at No. 3 with 26.69% of the vote, insisted on social ​media on Monday ⁠that he still had a chance to clinch a spot in the November runoff.

“Folks, we’re dealing with a fraction of a percentage point difference,” he wrote on X. “There’s still hundreds of thousands of votes outstanding, and LA officials have given us the next three weeks to count!”

On Sunday, Pratt suggested that a “net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday” came from ballots cast by homeless people. Referring to a recent annual count of the city’s unhoused population documenting more than 43,000 individuals experiencing homelessness on any given night in Los Angeles, Pratt wrote: “43,000, huh? Where ​have I seen that number before …? Probably nothing.”

‘COUNTING ​VOTES FOR WEEKS’

The Republican Speaker of the ⁠U.S. House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, weighed in with comments of his own, doubting the integrity of California’s elections.

“They are counting votes for weeks after the election,” he said. Asked for evidence of rigged elections, Johnson replied, “Some of these efforts are so diabolical and so far upstream ​it is impossible to prove.”

Republican criticism of California’s election system builds on Trump’s persistent repetition of false claims that his 2020 White House ​bid was stolen from him.

White ⁠House insiders and others familiar with the matter have said that harping on 2020 assertions of election fraud points to Trump’s strategy of justifying new voting restrictions and energizing his base ahead of November elections that will determine control of Congress.

By casting the 2020 election as illegitimate, Trump is also laying the groundwork to challenge Republican losses and undermine Democrats if they win back power, multiple election ⁠experts have ​said.

California’s prolonged ballot-counting process stems largely from a mail-in voting system designed to increase voter participation, which Trump has ​long said is prone to fraud.

The bulk of California votes in recent elections have been cast by mail, with ballots postmarked by election day accepted up to a week afterward, adding to the time it takes for them to ​be validated, processed and tabulated. States where voting is still conducted largely in person are thus able to finalize results more quickly.

Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus

特朗普警告内坦亚胡：勿再攻伊朗 否则就只能靠自己了

2026年6月9日 10:34 / 联合早报

特朗普告诉美国新闻网站Axios，他警告内坦亚胡，“你最好小心点，否则你很快就只能靠自己了。” （法新社）

美国总统特朗普告诉美国媒体，他警告以色列总理内坦亚胡，如果他再次与伊朗开战，可能会陷入孤立无援的境地。

特朗普在美国新闻网站Axios星期一（6月8日）刊登的电话采访中说，以色列7日打击伊朗的计划“很晚才通知我们”，“他们已经开始行动了，但我最终设法制止了他们”。

特朗普说：“我告诉他，‘比比（内坦亚胡的昵称），你最好小心点，否则你很快就只能靠自己了。”

他称五个中东国家致电要求他向内坦亚胡施压，迫使内坦亚胡停止军事行动。

另据新华社报道，内坦亚胡8日在电视讲话中说，目前对伊朗的袭击已“暂停”，但伊朗若恢复袭击以色列，以色列将以武力回应。

内坦亚胡还说，伊朗和黎巴嫩真主党试图通过袭击以色列来报复以军对黎巴嫩的袭击，他对此不能接受。以色列将继续打击敌人，并“在必要时保卫自身”。

6月7日晚至8日，伊朗与以色列爆发自4月上旬美以伊停火以来最大规模交火。特朗普8日在社媒平台Truth Social发文说，“以色列和伊朗必须立即停止交火”。伊朗与以色列当天先后宣布停止袭击对方。

Trump’s name removed from Kennedy Center website branding

2026-06-08 4:00 PM ET / CNN

By Kit Maher
Updated Jun 8, 2026, 4:51 PM ET

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on March 12, 2025.

Jason Andrew for The Washington Post/Getty Images

Summary

• The Kennedy Center has removed President Donald Trump’s name from its website branding following a federal judge’s ruling.
• Trump’s name is still on the facade of the building.
• Staff must remove Trump’s name from all branding by June 12 to comply with the court order, according to a memo from the center’s general counsel.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

The Kennedy Center website logo no longer includes “Trump” after a federal judge ruled President Donald Trump’s name had to be removed from the institution’s branding.

For now, the large lettering on the building’s facade still features “Donald J. Trump.” But the Kennedy Center’s general counsel said in a memo to staff that they have until June 12 to remove it to comply with the court order.

Staff were also instructed to immediately update some Kennedy Center documentation — including their email signatures and marketing materials — to remove Trump’s name, according to the memo.

“To comply with this order, you must immediately change email signatures, letterhead, and other documents to reflect the name as ‘The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,’ or ‘Kennedy Center.’ Other changes, such as to templates and forms, signage, brochures, and website pages, must be completed no later than Friday, June 12, 2026,” the general counsel wrote in the memo, obtained by CNN last week.

Shortly after Trump’s loyalist board voted to change the name in December, the website’s logo read: “Trump Kennedy Center.”

The president has expressed frustration with the judge’s ruling, indicating in a Truth Social post shortly after the decision that he planned to transfer full control of the storied performing arts center to Congress. But he’s walked back those remarks since then, indicating last week that he would stick with plans to renovate the center.

“I’m the chairman, so we’ll just keep it going. Somebody has to do it,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “Everybody, they want me to stay very badly, so we’re going to take a look at it.”

Later this month, the Kennedy Center will honor comedian Bill Maher with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor “at a gala performance featuring some of the biggest names in comedy,” according to the website.

Louis C.K., Whitney Cummings, Woody Harrelson, Arianna Huffington, Jay Leno, John Mellencamp and Stephen A. Smith will appear at the Mark Twain Prize award ceremony, according to an email giving a “first look” at the event.

Performance-only tickets start at $99 and more expensive packages sell for $750 and $1500.

This story has been updated with additional details.

Obama-appointed judge who blocked Trump birthright citizenship order strikes again, throws out visa overhaul

June 8, 2026 5:02pm EDT / Fox News

Judge Leo Sorokin sided with a coalition of 20 states that challenged the September 2025 proclamation

By Elaine Mallon, Fox News

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

An Obama-appointed federal judge who previously blocked President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order has again dealt a major setback to the administration by striking down Trump’s $100,000 H-1B visa payment requirement and declaring the policy unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin of Massachusetts ruled Monday that the Trump administration lacked the authority to impose the hefty payment on employers seeking new H-1B visas, finding that the requirement amounted to a tax that only Congress has the constitutional power to impose.

In Monday’s 42-page decision, Sorokin sided with a coalition of 20 states that challenged Trump’s September 2025 proclamation creating a new $100,000 payment requirement for employers filing petitions for foreign workers under the H-1B visa program, which allows U.S. employers to hire skilled foreign workers. Approximately 65,000 foreign workers are issued a H-1B visa each year.

TRUMP’S $100K H-1B VISA OVERHAUL COULD HIT TECH GIANTS LIKE AMAZON AND MICROSOFT HARDEST

U.S. President Donald Trump during an executive order signing in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, June 3, 2026.(Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Before Trump’s proclamation, employers typically paid between $2,000 and $5,000 in filing fees to sponsor an H-1B worker, depending on the type of application and the size of the company.

The administration had argued that the measure was necessary to curb abuse of the visa system and protect American workers.

Trump’s proclamation stated that the H-1B program had been exploited to replace U.S. workers with lower-paid foreign labor and that the new payment would help address those concerns.

Sorokin rejected the administration’s legal justification, finding that the Immigration and Nationality Act gives presidents broad authority over the entry of noncitizens but does not authorize them to impose taxes.

“While the Executive has broad discretion over the admission and exclusion of aliens, … that discretion is not boundless,” Sorokin wrote, referring to previous case law.

Top DHS official says current citizenship test is ‘too easy,’ needs a revamp
Video

Sorokin concluded that the payment functioned as a tax rather than a permissible immigration restriction.

TRUMP IS DOWN BUT NOT OUT IN COURT BATTLE OVER HARVARD’S FOREIGN STUDENT VISAS

“The Court finds that the Policy imposes a tax on H-1B petitions without the requisite delegation by Congress,” Sorokin wrote.

He further rejected the administration’s argument that the payment requirement was simply another immigration restriction, bluntly stating: “Taxes are not ‘restrictions.’”

Beyond the constitutional concerns, Sorokin also found that federal agencies violated the Administrative Procedure Act by implementing the policy without notice-and-comment rule making and concluded that the agencies exceeded their statutory authority.

As a remedy, Sorokin declared the policy unlawful and vacated it in its entirety.

Signage for the U.S. Department of State is displayed outside its headquarters in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2025.(Jim Watson/AFP)

Sorokin, a Yale and Columbia Law School graduate, was nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama in 2013 and confirmed by the Senate in 2014. Last year, Sorokin was the fourth judge to issue a nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s executive order seeking to limit birthright citizenship. He ruled that the policy is likely unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment. That dispute has since reached the Supreme Court, and a ruling is expected in the coming weeks.

The administration is expected to appeal Sorokin’s decision, setting up another legal battle over the scope of presidential authority in immigration matters and the limits of executive power.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“President Trump has clear legal authority to restrict entry of any class of aliens he determines is not in America’s best interests, and that is exactly what he did,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital. “The H-1B program has been abused for decades, and President Trump finally took action to fix it. A federal judge in Washington already upheld a nearly identical order, and the Administration is confident this order will be reversed on appeal.”

In a separate challenge filed in December 2025, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington declined to block the policy after dismissing claims from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the additional H-1B charge violated federal immigration law.

Elaine Mallon is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business covering national politics.

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6376397427112

Can an AI agent cover for you while you’re at the beach?

June 8, 2026 4:21 PM EDT / CBS News

By Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

Read Full Bio

Summer means fun in the sun for employees on vacation, but it also often means more assignments to juggle for their coworkers back at the office. To compound the stress, those returning from time off frequently face a mountain of catch-up work, instantly undoing the good vibes.

Artificial intelligence can help, according to the management consulting firm Korn Ferry. The firm said some companies have started using AI agents, or custom bots, to lighten the summer scheduling load by handling basic correspondence, scheduling meetings and performing other administrative tasks while employees are on break.

For employers, that approach also helps them balance their business needs with ensuring that workers get the downtime they need to recharge.

“There is a productivity dip when someone is out, so this is about the team taking the smallest hit by having AI make clear what’s due while someone is out,” Bryan Ackerman, head of AI strategy and transformation for Korn Ferry, told CBS News. “It’s also a huge help when that person returns to dig out from vacation.”

AI is good at summarizing emails and documents, and the technology can perform that task on behalf of a vacationing manager or even a senior leader. That avoids leaving team members in the lurch while the person is out, Ackerman said.

“AI can make everything that was on my plate visible to colleagues while I’m gone,” he said.

For example, Ackerman said that Anthropic’s Claude Cowork, an AI agent the company has designed for “knowledge work,” can synthesize research and prepare documents.

“Coordinating documents, light email writing and summarizing meeting transcripts when the host is on vacation — this is all within the realm of what AI happens to be good at right now,” Ackerman said. “In their current iteration, these tools provide data insights for teams compensating for me being out.”

To be sure, firing up an AI agent for the summer months could well fuel employee fears that they may be expendable — especially in some industries where increased corporate investment is leading to layoffs and reduced hiring.

Meanwhile, using AI in this manner could raise privacy concerns, while for an organization, deploying and using the technology is also costly.

Mark Beare, head of consumer business at cybersecurity firm Malwarebytes, also notes that employees would need to have confidence that an AI agent responding to coworkers and clients on their behalf can be counted on to act competently and professionally.

“If you give administrative control to an AI agent while you’re not present, allowing it to do things for you and make decisions, that brings concerns with it,” he said.

Beare added, “If it does something you ask it to poorly and there’s no human in the loop to correct it, eventually these systems decay.”

Edited by Alain Sherter

Trump formally nominates his former personal lawyer Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general

2026-06-08T21:01:50.385Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/08/politics/todd-blanche-trump-attorney-general-nomination

• President Donald Trump has formally nominated Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer, to serve as attorney general.
• Blanche faces Senate scrutiny over his handling of Epstein files and a controversial fund for Trump allies.
• The nomination comes after Pam Bondi was fired and amid Republican concerns about the Justice Department’s direction.

AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.

President Donald Trump has formally tapped acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to take on the top law enforcement job on a more permanent basis, sending his nomination to the Senate on Monday.

Blanche – formerly one of Trump’s personal lawyers – would succeed Pam Bondi, who was fired in April.

The formal nomination now tees up the Senate confirmation process. Blanche will need just a majority vote to get confirmed, though his role in handling the Jeffrey Epstein files and in the attempt to create a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to benefit Trump’s allies could complicate the vote.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley indicated he will support Blanche and move quickly on the nomination.

“Blanche is well-qualified and has shown his dedication to restoring law and order across our country. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s work to process Blanche’s nomination is underway,” Grassley said in a statement.

But just how quickly Blanche’s nomination could advance remains in question. Asked Monday how swiftly he could move the nomination through his committee, Grassley wouldn’t say.

Sen. John Cornyn, a member of the committee, indicated to CNN that he plans to ask Blanche questions about the “anti-weaponization” fund.

“I have a lot of questions, including that,” Cornyn said when asked if he wanted to hear more specifically about Blanche’s role in the fund.

GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana – whose recent primary defeat has led him to become one of the most critical Republican voices on Trump’s recent push for the DOJ fund – is signaling that he still has major issues with Blanche.

Asked repeatedly on Monday night whether he could support Blanche, the senator offered the same line: “I have to be convinced that Todd is not the president’s personal attorney who happens to be attorney general – but that Todd is attorney general who used to be the president’s personal attorney.”

Asked by CNN about Trump’s recent remarks reiterating his support for that fund – despite Blanche’s own insistence that the fund is dead – Cassidy said: “Of course, that’s concerning.”

Cassidy said “we shall see” when asked what he could do to rein in the White House on the matter.

Why Sen. Fetterman is a ‘no’ on Todd Blanche for Attorney General
https://www.cnn.com/

Serving as acting attorney general, Blanche has secured indictments against some of Trump’s personal foes like former FBI Director James Comey, rolled back gun control measures and issued subpoenas to journalists for their sources. He’s also announced sweeping fraud initiatives across the country, which work hand-in-hand with the White House’s “war on fraud.”

But critics, citing those same efforts, say that Blanche has effectuated the president’s personal and political agenda to use the Justice Department as his own attack mechanism.

The nomination comes in amid pushback against Trump and Blanche over the proposed $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate people who say they were wrongly prosecuted by the government. The fund was initially announced as part of a settlement between the Internal Revenue Service and the president, his adult sons and the Trump Organization.

Republicans on Capitol Hill revolted over the fund — with many especially anxious over the potential for January 6, 2021, rioters to get payouts.

Blanche essentially had to disavow the idea last week, and the Justice Department told two federal judges the plan is dead. However, several lawsuits are ongoing against the settlement.

Blanche, for his part, has vociferously stated his desire for the job and his support for the president. In a press conference just after he was appointed acting attorney general, Blanche told reporters that working for Trump is “the greatest honor of a lifetime.”

“If he chooses to nominate somebody else and asks me to go do something else, I will say: ‘Thank you very much, I love you, sir,’” he said.

Epstein files and Maxwell interview

Blanche will also face questions about how the Justice Department handled the Epstein files and his interview with Epstein’s co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.

According to a transcript of her recent interview with the House Oversight Committee, Bondi repeatedly said that Blanche was responsible.

“He was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files,” Bondi said when asked for her role in the department’s compliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

DOJ has released approximately 3 million files compelled by Congress, but Bondi was pushed to explain why another 3 million still have not been released.

Blanche also will be asked about his interview with Maxwell he conducted last year. Shortly after, Maxwell was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas. The Justice Department has said the Bureau of Prisons is responsible for the move.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz, Kristen Holmes and Manu Raju contributed to this report.