Todd Blanche ‘honored’ to be confirmed as new attorney general after narrow Senate vote
The US Senate has narrowly confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general, installing Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
Blanche was confirmed by a vote of ۵۰-۴۹ early on Saturday morning, with only two Republican senators – Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – having voted against him, joining all the chamber’s Democrats in opposing the nomination.
He said he was “deeply honored” to be confirmed as the new attorney general, thanking Trump for the “trust and confidence” that has been placed in him.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was among earlier Republican holdouts, cast the deciding vote in Blanche’s favor. Explaining his decision on the senate floor on Friday, he said:
Mr Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr Blanche.
It is between Mr Blanche 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.
Blanche has been serving as the acting attorney general since the president fired Pam Bondi, another Trump loyalist, in April.
However, there was a lengthy delay to Blanche’s confirmation amid concerns he could use the department to go after Trump’s political adversaries as attorney general.
Blanche faced pushback from Republican senators over the department’s deal to create a $۱.۸bn so-called “anti-weaponization fund” and to give the president, his sons, and business tax immunity, as my colleague notes in this story.
“The attorney general is supposed to be the people’s lawyer,” Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said on Tuesday.
“Mr Blanche continues to operate as the president’s personal lawyer, treating the justice department like a law firm serving one client: the president.”
But despite these concerns, Blanche’s confirmation was narrowly confirmed after a late-night session ran over into the early hours of Saturday ahead of a planned five-week Senate recess.
The Senate majority leader, John Thune, Trump and Senate conservatives reached a deal last night to postpone a vote on a budget resolution and defer action on a significant portion of the SAVE America Act until after the break.
Trump had demanded that senators stay in session to pass a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill before the summer recess.
Instead, Republican senators who had brought the chamber to a standstill spoke to Trump late in the evening about an alternative plan: they would try again to approve elements of the voting bill as part of a broader GOP budget package to fund the Iran war and replenish the Pentagon when they return to work in September.
Key events
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said he was undecided about whether to vote to confirm Todd Blanche as the attorney general as late as last Wednesday.
“I’ve got to be convinced that he is an attorney general who just happens to have once been President Trump’s personal attorney, as opposed to President Trump’s personal attorney who is now the attorney general,” he said in a radio interview. “I think there’s a big difference between the two.”
In what was a major win for Donald Trump, Cassidy soon got in line with the president’s wishes as he brushed off his concerns about Blanche’s independence and cast the deciding vote in the acting attorney general’s favour.
Here is a video of Cassidy, who has had a strained relationship with the president, explaining his vote on the Senate floor on Friday:
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Sam Levine
Todd Blanche faced heavy criticism for the department’s sloppy rollout of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, which redacted information that should not have been redacted and left unredacted the names of victims that should have been kept private.
During his confirmation hearing, Blanche refused to personally meet with Epstein victims, then agreed to do so. The survivors said they received few answers from Blanche during the meeting.
Blanche, who left a lucrative partnership to represent Trump in ۲۰۲۳, has been at the center of the president’s attempt to bend the federal government to his will. Scores of career justice department attorneys have left the agency under his leadership. Department lawyers have been rebuked by judges across the US for making misrepresentations to the court.
Blanche has also been at the center of Trump’s efforts to use the justice department to punish political rivals. During his tenure as both the deputy attorney general and acting attorney general, the department has indicted former FBI director James Comey twice, New York attorney general Letitia James, the non-profit Southern Poverty Law Center – all in cases that exerts see as thin.
It has also tried to bring criminal charges against two Democratic senators, Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Mark Kelly of Arizona, and used its investigative powers to try to get leverage over Jerome Powell, the former chair of the Federal Reserve.
Todd Blanche ‘honored’ to be confirmed as new attorney general after narrow Senate vote
The US Senate has narrowly confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general, installing Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer as the nation’s top law enforcement official.
Blanche was confirmed by a vote of ۵۰-۴۹ early on Saturday morning, with only two Republican senators – Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – having voted against him, joining all the chamber’s Democrats in opposing the nomination.
He said he was “deeply honored” to be confirmed as the new attorney general, thanking Trump for the “trust and confidence” that has been placed in him.
Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was among earlier Republican holdouts, cast the deciding vote in Blanche’s favor. Explaining his decision on the senate floor on Friday, he said:
Mr Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr Blanche.
It is between Mr Blanche 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.
Blanche has been serving as the acting attorney general since the president fired Pam Bondi, another Trump loyalist, in April.
However, there was a lengthy delay to Blanche’s confirmation amid concerns he could use the department to go after Trump’s political adversaries as attorney general.
Blanche faced pushback from Republican senators over the department’s deal to create a $۱.۸bn so-called “anti-weaponization fund” and to give the president, his sons, and business tax immunity, as my colleague notes in this story.
“The attorney general is supposed to be the people’s lawyer,” Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said on Tuesday.
“Mr Blanche continues to operate as the president’s personal lawyer, treating the justice department like a law firm serving one client: the president.”
But despite these concerns, Blanche’s confirmation was narrowly confirmed after a late-night session ran over into the early hours of Saturday ahead of a planned five-week Senate recess.
The Senate majority leader, John Thune, Trump and Senate conservatives reached a deal last night to postpone a vote on a budget resolution and defer action on a significant portion of the SAVE America Act until after the break.
Trump had demanded that senators stay in session to pass a strict proof-of-citizenship voting bill before the summer recess.
Instead, Republican senators who had brought the chamber to a standstill spoke to Trump late in the evening about an alternative plan: they would try again to approve elements of the voting bill as part of a broader GOP budget package to fund the Iran war and replenish the Pentagon when they return to work in September.
