President Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department survived a razor-thin Senate vote early Saturday morning after a last-minute Republican ally emerged to secure the confirmation.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer and acting attorney general, officially replaces Pam Bondi as the nation’s top law enforcement official after Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., announced his crucial yes vote on Friday.
The confirmation nearly collapsed as Republicans struggled over Blanche’s role in rolling out the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund and sweeping IRS audit immunity for the president and his family.
“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.”
Cassidy had spent days keeping tight-lipped on his decision. Though concerned about weaponization at the DOJ and just how binding an agreement to nix the anti-weaponization fund and limit Trump’s audit immunity would be, he argued that having a Senate-confirmed attorney general was better than a placeholder.
Still, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined all Senate Democrats to oppose Blanche’s confirmation β making Cassidy’s vote the difference between confirmation and defeat.
Murkowski announced her opposition hours before Cassidy’s lifeline. Despite Blanche’s trek to Alaska and numerous meetings with her, she contended she could not support him.
She was worried about his connection to the anti-weaponization fund, a weaponized Justice Department, Blanche’s role in the Epstein Files release, and the uncertain future of the fund β which several Republicans have raised concerns about over whether taxpayer dollars would flow to rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“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.”
Collins raised similar concerns earlier in the week and was the first Republican out of the gate to cast doubt on Blanche’s chances of confirmation.
“While I believe Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice has become increasingly political,” Collins said. “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.”
Blanche’s confirmation caps a mad blitz by lawmakers to wrap up their work and jet from Washington, D.C., before the weekend. He now takes the helm as attorney general with Trump’s full backing β despite the Republican defections.
