Senate Republicans face pressure to confirm acting attorney general before August recess

A former attorney general publicly urged Senate Republicans to confirm the acting attorney general ahead of confirmation hearings scheduled for July 15 and 16. The endorsement came less than three weeks before the hearings and as Republicans seek to advance the nomination before the Senate leaves for its August recess. Several Republican senators have not yet committed to supporting the nominee.

Opposition and ethics complaint Democrats and outside legal groups filed a 73-page ethics complaint with the New York State Bar on Tuesday. The complaint alleges the nominee improperly helped create a compensation fund, misused investigative powers, and mishandled oversight of documents related to the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

A former Justice Department official who now works in the private sector called the complaint politically motivated and said retired judges were using their titles to lend credibility to a partisan filing.

Court order on document disclosure A federal judge ruled Thursday that the department had effectively conceded it violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act by withholding certain documents. The judge ordered the department to unredact additional pages within one week or explain why it cannot.

The department has defended its handling of the documents, stating that withheld materials may include duplicative records, attorney-client privileged information, or sensitive victim identities.