Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche secured confirmation as the nations 88th attorney general in a razor-thin Senate vote held in the early hours of Saturday morning.
According to The Post Millennial, the chamber approved Blanche by a 5049 margin after Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana provided the decisive vote to push the nomination over the line. Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine broke with most of their party and joined Democrats in opposing Blanche, who had been serving as deputy attorney general under Pam Bondi before assuming acting leadership of the Department of Justice upon her departure.
Mitch McConnell was notably absent from the chamber during the vote, a silence that underscored the internal divisions among Senate Republicans over the direction of the Justice Department. At the center of the pre-vote debate was a proposed compensation fund for victims of what conservatives have described as a weaponized Department of Justice under the Biden administration.
That fund, intended to provide redress for Americans targeted by politicized prosecutions and investigations, was ultimately abandoned after it became a major sticking point for Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. Cassidy, explaining his support on the Senate floor, acknowledged Blanches imperfections while emphasizing the stakes of the decision.
"Mr. Blanche is not perfect," said Cassidy on the Senate floor, "and he will tell you thin, but the choice if not between perfection and Mr. Blanche, it is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department as effectively under President Trump and who, indeed, may not be as good as Mr. Blanche." Blanche, who served as President Trumps personal attorney during the 4-year hiatus from the White House under the Biden administration, now assumes control of a Justice Department conservatives hope will be redirected away from partisan pursuits and back toward equal enforcement of the law.
In a statement following his confirmation, Blanche said he was "deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in meto lead the Department of Justice as our great nations 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."
"America is safer with Todd Blanche at the helm of the Justice Department," said Sen. Chuck Grassley. With Blanche now formally installed, conservatives are looking for a decisive break from the Biden-era pattern of politicized prosecutions and a renewed commitment to law, order, and the constitutional rights of ordinary Americans.
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