WASHINGTON — The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general early Saturday, handing President Donald Trump a narrow but consequential victory by elevating his former criminal defense lawyer to lead the Justice Department.
The final vote was 50-49, with all Senate Democrats and Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska opposing the nomination. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, did not vote.
The vote, recorded at 4:17 a.m. Saturday, capped a weeks-long confirmation battle that exposed uncommon Republican unease over Blanche’s close relationship with Trump, his handling of a controversial IRS-related settlement and his willingness to uphold Justice Department independence.
Blanche had been serving as acting attorney general since April, after Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi. His confirmation makes him the second Senate-confirmed attorney general of Trump’s second term and gives him formal authority over a Justice Department that the president has repeatedly criticized and sought to reshape.
A former Trump lawyer takes charge
Blanche is not a typical attorney general nominee. Before joining the Trump administration, he was one of Trump’s principal personal lawyers, representing him in high-stakes criminal proceedings, including the New York case in which Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts related to falsifying business records.
He had previously built a respected legal career in New York as a federal prosecutor and white-collar defense attorney. But his work for Trump transformed him into one of the president’s most trusted legal advisers and made his eventual nomination to run the Justice Department especially controversial.
Blanche was confirmed earlier in Trump’s second term as deputy attorney general, the Justice Department’s No. 2 position. He stepped into the acting attorney general role in April and Trump formally nominated him for the top job in June.
His ascent from Trump’s personal legal team to attorney general has sharpened concerns among Democrats and government watchdogs about whether the department can retain its traditional distance from presidential political interests.
The attorney general leads the nation’s principal federal law-enforcement agency, overseeing the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Marshals Service, Bureau of Prisons, federal prosecutors, and Justice Department civil divisions. The office influences some of the most consequential decisions in American government, including criminal prosecutions, civil-rights enforcement, national-security cases, antitrust matters, and federal investigations involving public officials.
The vote and Republican defections
Blanche needed nearly all Republican support to survive in a closely divided Senate. He ultimately did so, but only after a late push by the White House and Republican leaders to secure wavering votes.
Collins and Murkowski joined every Democrat in voting against his confirmation. Their opposition represented a rare public rebuke of a Trump cabinet nominee from within the Republican caucus.
Both senators have periodically broken with Trump over nominations and institutional concerns. Their votes reflected broader skepticism about Blanche’s ability to maintain the Justice Department’s independence given his personal and professional ties to the president.
The decisive vote came from Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Cassidy had been viewed as a potential holdout and drew intense attention because his decision could determine whether Blanche had enough Republican support to clear the chamber. On Friday, Cassidy announced from the Senate floor that he would support the nomination, helping secure the 50-vote majority needed for confirmation.
The Senate gaveled down the vote at 4:31 a.m. after an overnight session ahead of a five-week congressional recess. ABC News reported that there was light applause in the chamber after the result was announced.
The IRS settlement controversy
The nomination nearly stalled over Blanche’s role in an agreement linked to Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
Trump had sued the IRS over the handling of his tax records. The proposed settlement included an “anti-weaponization” fund that could have made approximately $1.8 billion available to people whom the administration determined had been subjected to politically motivated government action.
Critics argued that the proposal could create a mechanism for compensating Trump allies or supporters, while also raising questions about the use of taxpayer money and the Justice Department’s handling of a legal dispute involving the president personally.
The arrangement also drew concern because of provisions seen as limiting future tax scrutiny of Trump, his relatives, and related businesses. Some lawmakers questioned whether the settlement could give the president’s financial interests special treatment.
The controversy created an impasse in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Blanche ultimately reached an agreement with Republican holdouts, and the Justice Department rescinded the proposed fund and clarified the scope of the IRS-related settlement.
The committee then advanced Blanche’s nomination on a 12-10 party-line vote on Aug. 4.
The agreement resolved enough concerns to move the nomination forward, but it did not end the broader debate about whether Blanche could separate his responsibilities as attorney general from Trump’s personal legal and political interests.
A Justice Department under scrutiny
Blanche assumes the top role at a time when the Justice Department is at the center of intense political conflict.
Trump has long argued that federal law-enforcement institutions were “weaponized” against him and his allies. He has publicly called for investigations into political opponents and has criticized traditional Justice Department norms that limit White House involvement in individual prosecutorial decisions.
Democrats, in turn, warn that the administration is attempting to turn the department into an instrument of presidential power and political retaliation.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, argued during the confirmation process that the attorney general is supposed to serve “the people’s lawyer,” not the president’s personal lawyer.
The fundamental tension is now Blanche’s responsibility to manage. As attorney general, he will be expected to carry out lawful administration policies. But he will also face pressure to preserve the rule of law, protect career prosecutors from political interference and make decisions that can withstand judicial and congressional scrutiny.
The Washington Post described the challenge as a “tightrope” between satisfying Trump and fulfilling the institutional obligations of the office.
Blanche’s supporters contend that his background as a prosecutor and his experience inside the department qualify him for the role. They also argue that concerns about political interference ignore what they see as improper investigations of Trump during previous administrations.
His critics say the central issue is not his résumé but the precedent created by placing a former personal criminal defense lawyer in charge of the department with authority over investigations involving Trump allies, adversaries and the president’s own administration.
What Blanche inherits
Blanche takes command of an agency confronting a broad and difficult agenda.
The Justice Department must address national-security threats, international terrorism, cybercrime, drug trafficking, violent crime, public corruption, and fraud. It also faces growing pressure to respond to technology-driven threats, including AI-enabled scams, cyberattacks and election-related misinformation.
At the same time, the department must make legally sensitive decisions involving immigration enforcement, voting rights, reproductive health, civil rights, antitrust issues, and federal grants.
Before his confirmation, Blanche told faith leaders that he would seek action to restrict access to abortion medication, according to Stateline. That suggests reproductive-policy litigation could become an early area of focus for the newly confirmed attorney general.
He also inherits internal questions about morale and independence. Career Justice Department lawyers are accustomed to institutional norms separating prosecutorial decisions from White House political priorities. How Blanche handles disputes involving those norms will be closely watched by Congress, federal courts, civil-rights organizations, and the legal profession.
What confirmation changes
Blanche had already been exercising much of the power of the office as acting attorney general. In practical terms, his confirmation does not instantly transform the Justice Department’s authority or day-to-day operations.
But Senate confirmation gives him a more durable mandate and a stronger claim to institutional legitimacy. It means he does not have to rely on temporary succession rules and can serve as attorney general unless he resigns, is removed by the president, or is replaced through a future administration.
The narrow margin, however, means the confirmation is not a broad bipartisan endorsement. It was a party-line victory with two Republican defections and a single-vote margin.
That result is likely to shape Blanche’s tenure. Every controversial Justice Department action involving Trump’s political rivals, former prosecutors, immigration policy or politically charged investigations will be examined through the lens of his close history with the president.
For Trump, the result is a critical personnel win: a trusted former lawyer is now formally installed at the Justice Department’s helm. For Blanche, the harder task begins now, proving that he can lead an institution built to serve the law, not simply the interests of the president who appointed him.
