NOW PLAYING
The Senate early Saturday morning confirmed Todd Blanche as the next attorney general, with the nominee narrowly securing sufficient GOP backing after making a number of promises about how he would handle his tenure as the country’s top law enforcement officer.
The vote was 50-49.
Though confirmed along a party-line vote when he was nominated as deputy attorney general in March of last year, Blanche faltered in gaining GOP support to lead the Justice Department after a series of actions that earned pushback from skeptical Republicans.
Chief among them was Blanche’s decision to sign off on a $1.776 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund expected to funnel money to Trump allies and Jan. 6 defendants. The fund, which Blanche formally rescinded earlier this week, was created in the wake of an agreement to settle a $10 billion suit from President Trump brought against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Blanche was able to clinch confirmation with the reluctant backing of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who took to the Senate floor Friday morning to announce and explain his much-anticipated decision.
“The choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche; it is between Mr. Blanch and another acting attorney general, who may not run the department effectively under President Trump, and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche,” he said.
But Blanche failed to get the support of Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who both cited concerns about the ability of President Trump’s former personal attorney to exert independence as head of the Justice Department. Both also pointed out that the fund could easily be revived in court.
“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration. I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case,” Murkowski wrote Friday in announcing her decision not to support him.
She blasted Blanche for a related memo that gave Trump, his adult children, and their businesses sweeping immunity for their past conduct, including outstanding audits that could yield significant tax bills.
“I am also keenly aware that the Department’s nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund—which likely would have rewarded January 6 protesters—is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage. Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds,” she wrote.
Collins earlier this week said that while she believed “Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice has become increasingly political.”
“Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department’s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation,” she said, noting his pledge to restrict abortion medication and another order giving Trump and his adult children immunity from being investigated for their past actions, including failure to pay taxes.
Cassidy also blasted the arrangement despite his support for Blanche.
“Mr. Blanche showed poor judgment in approving the anti-weaponization slush fund and exempting the president from IRS audits. No American should be unfairly targeted by the law, but no American should be above the law,” he said.
Cassidy’s eleventh-hour backing of Blanche avoided what could have been a significant delay in the confirmation. Without his vote, the chamber may have been forced to wait until the return of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose intentions on the attorney are unclear.
Blanche faced unusually steep resistance from Republicans on this path to securing the promotion.
A vote to advance him out of the Senate Judiciary Committee had to be postponed when GOP Sens. Cornyn (Texas) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) vowed to oppose him if he did not memorialize in writing his pledge that the fund is “not moving forward. Period.”
Blanche did so after days of haggling, but it does not prohibit Trump from going to court to seek to revive the matter. Nor does it kill the sweeping immunity order that gives Trump and his family broad immunity from any government review of their past conduct, including tax audits.
The Justice Department has not yet asserted the rescission of the fund in the multitude of related court cases it faces, and Trump has appealed a ruling in his IRS case that found his lawsuit was collusive in nature.
Blanche also faced questions from lawmakers over DOJ’s efforts to investigate six Democratic lawmakers who filmed a video noting that military service members have the right to refuse any illegal orders.
Cassidy has said that issue was a top concern for him, though in his floor speech he suggested Blanche had agreed to abandon the case.
“I will note that I’ve learned that some of the cases that have been publicly reported to be under investigation by the Department of Justice have been dismissed or are no longer being pursued. I am realistic that President Trump can be unrelenting on this, but this will be true no matter who the Attorney General is, and this is the rationale for having a Senate confirmed Attorney General with more leverage to push back,” Cassidy said.
Democrats, similarly to Murkowski and Collins, also tore into Blanche over his handling of a number of other issues, from his handling of the Epstein files to numerous cases brought against Trump foes.
Several Democrats also accused Blanche of lying under oath, including to Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who noted that the attorney told her in a hearing he had rescinded the order, yet the rescission he publicly released showed it was signed Sunday.
“He testified that he had rescinded it. In questions for the record, I asked him, ‘Give me the date of when you rescinded this order and this fund.’ He did not answer the question with a date. He refused to end this fund in writing until he was forced into it in order to secure needed votes from my Republican colleagues,” she said Tuesday.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) pointed to Blanche’s previous role as Trump’s personal attorney.
“We should not confirm an attorney general who views his job as enriching the president of the United States….We should not confirm an attorney general who believes that the president has a right and a duty to go after his political enemies,” Schiff said earlier this week as the Senate Judiciary Committee weighed the nomination.
“The problem with confirming Todd Blanch is that he has never been able to shed his role as criminal defense lawyer for Donald Trump. He just can’t do it. He does not represent the American people now. He will never represent the American people. He will never do what’s best for the American people. He will only do what’s best for Donald Trump, and you cannot leave someone like that as the nation’s number one law enforcement official.”
Democrats also raised the widespread firings carried out by the Justice Department, including of those who worked on Jan. 6 cases, as well as the demotions a number of other key attorneys.
Justice Connection, a DOJ alumni group, previously sent a letter signed by 1,200 former employees opposed to Blanche, a remarkable number in urging the Senate to reject his nomination.
“Unlike most nominees who come before the Senate, Todd Blanche has spent four months as DOJ’s top dog and a year as second-in-charge. He’s used that time to shred DOJ’s institutional norms, destroy important offices, revictimize sex crime survivors, eviscerate accountability for January 6, attack the career workforce. By serving as the president’s sword and shield, he’s unraveled the rule of law – leaving our rights, economic interests, safety, and democracy on shaky ground,” Stacey Young, a former DOJ official and the group’s executive director, said in a statement.
“Nearly 20,000 career employees have left the department, many of whom were fired or forced out for doing their jobs. This is a generational loss of institutional knowledge and expertise that will be impossible to replace. Today’s vote is an affront to the dedicated public servants still there, as they struggle to uphold the law under a leader who doesn’t.”
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Bill Cassidy Todd BlancheCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Senate News
See All
Senate Senate passes stopgap funding bill to prevent shutdown ahead of midterms by Alexander Bolton and Helen Huiskes 1 hour ago Senate / 1 hour ago 
