Washington DC - President Donald Trump's pick to be the next US attorney general – his former defense lawyer Todd Blanche – came in for tough questioning from Democrats at a fiery Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

"In less than 18 months at the Department of Justice, you've shown you're still President Trump's personal attorney," Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said.

"This nation deserves an attorney general who loves the Constitution more than any single president," Durbin said. "An attorney general focused on keeping America safe and combating corruption, not satisfying the president's personal grievances."

Blanche, who has been acting attorney general since Pam Bondi was fired in April, defended his record, although he made a verbal flub when asked by Republican Senator John Kennedy if he and Trump were "friends."

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"I'm his lawyer," Blanche replied, before correcting himself and saying he "was his lawyer."

Democratic senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Coons took aim at Blanche over the firing of hundreds of career Department of Justice employees seen as insufficiently loyal to the Republican president.

"You've cleaned house of every attorney who worked on a case related to Trump," Whitehouse said.

"You're in charge of a Department of Justice I don't recognize – prosecuting the president's political enemies and firing rank-and-file prosecutors and FBI agents because of the cases they were assigned to," Coons said.

Blanche pushed back, calling Whitehouse's questions "obnoxious" and accusing him of lying about his tenure at the department.

Blanche has been closely tied to what Democrats have dubbed a "retribution" campaign by the president against his perceived political enemies.

Former FBI director James Comey, an outspoken Trump critic, is among those who have been targeted by the Department of Justice under Blanche. Comey was indicted in April for allegedly threatening Trump's life in an Instagram post.

Blanche has also controversially defended a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" to compensate Trump's political allies and a deal that shielded the president from audits of his past tax returns.

The administration has since dropped plans to create what Democrats denounced as a "slush fund" – Blanche said it was "moot" – and a federal judge on Monday voided the settlement with the Internal Revenue Service.

Blanche has also come in for criticism from victims of Jeffrey Epstein over his handling of the release of investigative files about the convicted sex offender, a one-time close friend of Trump.

He said the Department of Justice would bring charges if evidence surfaced against anyone associated with Epstein.

"If we learn today, if we learn next week, if we learn next month that there's an individual that we can investigate, indict, and prosecute out of the Epstein files, you better believe it, we will," Blanche said.

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Trump, in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, defended Blanche, saying he was doing a "phenomenal job" as acting attorney general and "every Republican senator" should vote to confirm him.

A sole Republican "no" vote on the panel could be enough to torpedo the 51-year-old Blanche's appointment to be the chief law enforcement officer of the US.

Republicans have a majority on the Senate panel, but at least two Republicans – Senator Thom Tillis, who is retiring, and Senator John Cornyn, who was defeated in a primary after Trump backed his opponent – have expressed concerns about Blanche's appointment.

Prior to joining the Department of Justice last year, Blanche represented Trump in his New York trial over alleged "hush money" paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

He was also on the legal defense team in two federal cases brought against Trump by Special Counsel Jack Smith – for allegedly mishandling classified documents and for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Both cases were dropped after Trump won the 2024 presidential election.

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a speech on the Senate floor on Monday, urged fellow lawmakers to give a thumbs down to Blanche's nomination.

Blanche's "number one client" has been Trump, Schumer said, but "as attorney general, your number one client should be the United States of America."