Well, it’s done.
The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as the nation's next attorney general in the early hours of Saturday, ending a rather rough nomination fight over his ties to President Donald Trump.
Blanche, Trump's former personal defense lawyer, needed every vote he could get. He got exactly enough.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were the only Republicans who broke ranks, joining every Senate Democrat in voting no. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) skipped the vote entirely. That left Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) holding the deciding vote, a decision he announced just a day earlier, on Friday.
Blanche didn't waste time celebrating.
"I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me to lead the Department of Justice as our great nation's 88th Attorney General," Blanche wrote in a post on X. "I am grateful to the Senate for staying late to complete this process. To the dedicated public servants of the Department of Justice, thank you for your work each day to uphold the law and keep our country safe. God bless America."
Blanche has effectively been running the department since April, when he stepped in as acting attorney general after Pam Bondi's firing from the post. Trump made it official in June, announcing he'd nominate Blanche for the permanent job.
That's when the fight started.
Democrats and a pair of wavering Republicans took issue with a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund the Justice Department created to pay out victims of government weaponization under the Biden administration. That same settlement also handed Trump, his family, and his businesses broad immunity from tax audits and investigations, which Democrats have been promising to do once they’re in power and Trump is out of office.
At his June confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Blanche insisted the fund was "dead" and that the department was "not moving forward" with it. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) weren't buying it. Weeks of negotiation followed.
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Blanche eventually gave them what they wanted. He formally rescinded his original order creating the fund. He also narrowed the tax immunity language so it applies only to already-filed returns, covering just Trump, his two oldest sons, and the Trump Organization. That was enough to get Cornyn and Tillis on board, and the Judiciary Committee advanced the nomination on a party-line vote the following Tuesday.
Blanche needed a simple majority to clear the floor. With McConnell sitting out (wherever he is), he could afford to lose no more than two Republicans, which he did.
Days before the vote, Collins announced she'd oppose Blanche, citing what she called "several actions that have further eroded the Department's independence," pointing to the tax immunity deal and the anti-weaponization fund. Murkowski followed with her own opposition that Friday.
The irony is rich, since both of them voted to confirm Merrick Garland, the attorney general who spent years trying to put Trump in prison. Concerns about a "weaponized" Justice Department apparently only matter when the weapon's pointed at Democrats.
"Todd Blanche will be a phenomenal Attorney General and tremendous asset to the country," Republican National Committee Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement. "The murder rate is at a 125-year low, violent crime continues to fall, and the Trump Administration is aggressively targeting fraudsters who abuse taxpayer dollars. Attorney General Blanche will continue to restore public safety and uphold the rule of law against Democrats who seek to weaponize it."
Editor’s Note: The 2026 Midterms will determine the fate of President Trump’s America First agenda. Republicans must maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
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