WASHINGTON, Aug 9: The US Senate has narrowly confirmed President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche as attorney general, placing him at the head of the country’s top law enforcement agency.
The BBC reported that the confirmation ended a lengthy standoff between Senate Republicans and the Trump administration over Blanche, who had been serving as acting attorney general since April.
Blanche secured confirmation in a 50 to 49 vote, with Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joining all Democrats in opposing his nomination. Senator Bill Cassidy cast the decisive vote, drawing close attention in Washington because of his long and difficult political relationship with Trump.
Trump attorney general pick says has reached deal with senators...
According to the BBC, Blanche said after the vote that he was “deeply honoured” by the trust and confidence Trump had placed in him.
Some Republican senators had expressed concerns about Blanche’s handling of the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein and his role in creating Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion "anti-weaponisation" fund. The fund was intended to compensate people who claimed they had faced government persecution, but critics feared it could also benefit people prosecuted over the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
The BBC stated that Blanche later agreed to abandon the proposal after facing strong criticism from Republican senators during his confirmation hearings. However, it remains unclear whether that commitment is legally binding or whether Trump could persuade Blanche to introduce a similar scheme under another name in the future.
The controversy helped shape the opposition of Collins and Murkowski. Murkowski said she lacked confidence in Blanche’s ability to “check the worst impulses” of the administration and later announced her opposition, citing concerns about the politicisation of the Justice Department. Collins also questioned Blanche’s role in settling Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, although she said she believed he could still provide the president with candid legal advice.
Cassidy said before casting the deciding vote that Blanche was the best nominee Trump was likely to put forward. “This is not a referendum on President Trump, it is a decision regarding Mr Blanche, in very specific circumstances,” Cassidy said, adding that he would vote in favour of the nominee, the BBC stated.
Cassidy, who voted to convict Trump during his second impeachment trial over the January 6 Capitol riot, said Senate confirmation could give Blanche greater leverage to push back when necessary. The impeachment effort failed, and Trump later supported a primary challenger to Cassidy, effectively forcing the Louisiana senator into retirement earlier this year.
According to the BBC, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer strongly criticised the confirmation, warning that Blanche’s appointment could become an “excuse on a silver platter” for what he described as continued corruption in the administration. Schumer said Blanche had built his career by enabling Trump and accused senators who backed him of doing the same.
Most Republicans, however, welcomed the result. Senator Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, praised Blanche’s “extraordinary patience, compassion [and] tenacity” throughout the confirmation process and said there was no doubt about his qualifications, the BBC reported.
Blanche was already serving as deputy attorney general when he assumed interim leadership of the Justice Department in April following the dismissal of Pam Bondi. His narrow confirmation now formally places one of Trump’s former personal lawyers in charge of the department at a time when concerns over the political independence of US law enforcement remain intense, according to the BBC.
