The U.S. Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as the nation's 88th attorney general on a 50-49 party-line vote Saturday night, but only after weeks of intra-party resistance forced him to abandon a controversial $1.776 billion fund that had rattled Republicans.
Blanche, who served as President Trump's personal defense lawyer before joining the Department of Justice as deputy attorney general, secured the narrowest possible confirmation margin after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) announced Friday he would vote yes. Cassidy's decision broke a weeks-long standoff that had left the DOJ without a Senate-confirmed leader since April.
Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine crossed party lines and voted against Blanche alongside every Senate Democrat. With Sen. Mitch McConnell absent due to health issues, the math left zero room for error, Blanche could not afford to lose a single additional Republican vote.
Cassidy framed his decision carefully. He faulted Blanche for "poor judgment" on the anti-weaponization fund and the IRS audit exemptions that had drawn bipartisan backlash, but said the confirmation process was ultimately about Blanche, the difficulty of his job, and "how the American people can be best served."
AP News reported that Cassidy announced his support Friday morning only after Blanche promised in writing to abandon the fund. The Louisiana senator made the stakes plain:
"This is not a referendum on President Trump. It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances."
That written promise proved decisive. Cassidy's yes vote cleared the path for a confirmation that had looked uncertain for weeks.
The controversy centered on the so-called anti-weaponization fund, a $1.776 billion settlement that grew out of Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns by contractor Charles Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty. The fund was meant for citizens who claimed the Biden administration had targeted them, and it included sweeping IRS audit immunity for the president and his family.
Republicans who otherwise supported Blanche balked. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) postponed a committee vote on July 29 after two Republican senators, whose holdout had been building for weeks, withheld support pending written assurances from the DOJ that the fund would be scrapped.
Grassley, who shepherded the nomination through committee, pushed back against the skeptics once Blanche made concessions. He cast the confirmation in direct terms:
"A vote for Todd Blanche is a vote for the safety of the American people."
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema had already extended a judicial block on the fund in June, rejecting the government's argument that lawsuits challenging it were moot. Attorneys for the federal government had argued that the administration's decision to terminate the fund rendered the legal challenges pointless, but Brinkema said the mootness point did not "go anywhere."
Blanche formally rescinded the fund in writing on Sunday, days before the floor vote, removing the last obstacle between him and confirmation. The Washington Examiner reported that the written agreement to eliminate the fund was key to winning over holdout senators, with Cassidy also consulting former Attorney General Bill Barr before casting his vote.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote in support of Blanche's confirmation ahead of the vote, framing the nomination against the backdrop of the legal battles Trump faced during his campaign. Jordan argued that Blanche had stood beside the president through unprecedented legal pressure and earned his trust.
"President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year after withstanding the dirtiest trick in American political history. Partisan Democrats, who failed in their sensationalized impeachments and politicized investigations, resorted to the legal system to stop him. They filed a mountain of charges in courthouses around the country. They forced the president to spend days away from the campaign trail, appearing in and out of court. They censored what he could say, and they even raided his home."
Jordan concluded that Blanche had "the experience, the expertise, and the character we need leading the Department of Justice right now."
Blanche had cleared the Judiciary Committee only after cutting a deal with GOP holdouts, a sign of just how narrow his path to the full Senate floor had been from the start.
The 50-49 tally reflected a Senate operating at reduced strength. McConnell's absence for health reasons meant the Republican majority had no cushion. Just the News confirmed the final count: every Democrat voted no, Murkowski and Collins broke ranks, and the remaining Republicans held the line.
McConnell's empty seat has become a recurring factor in close Senate votes, and the Blanche confirmation underscored how little margin the GOP majority has for internal dissent on any nominee.
Blanche had been serving as acting attorney general since April 2, when Trump elevated him from deputy AG after firing Pam Bondi. The Saturday vote gave the Justice Department its first Senate-confirmed leader in four months.
Shortly after the vote, Blanche posted on X early Saturday morning:
"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. 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."
Democrats offered no such goodwill. Sen. Dick Durbin captured the opposition's posture, telling colleagues before the vote that the country needed "an Attorney General above reproach, who is clearly dedicated to ending corruption, even at the highest level of our government." Durbin's implication was clear, and voters can judge for themselves whether the party that weaponized federal prosecutors against a presidential candidate has standing to lecture anyone about corruption.
Blanche is confirmed. The fund is gone. And the senators who held out got what they asked for in writing before they voted yes. That is how leverage is supposed to work, Republicans used theirs, extracted a concession, and gave the Justice Department a confirmed leader before the August recess.
Whether Blanche governs the DOJ as effectively as he defended his client in court is the only question that matters now. The Senate did its job. His starts Monday.
