In the quiet hours of a Saturday morning, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general by the narrowest of margins — a single vote, cast by a senator who had long kept his own counsel. Blanche, who once stood beside Donald Trump at the defense table through 34 felony counts, now stands at the head of the Justice Department, the nation's highest law enforcement office. His confirmation, shaped by a rescinded billion-dollar fund and the calculated pragmatism of a senator with little left to lose, reflects how deeply personal loyalty and institutional power have become intertwined in thi
Blanche sworn in as attorney general after narrow Senate confirmation
The choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche
Mark
What made Cassidy the deciding vote? Why did he wait so long to announce?
Mimi
Cassidy had already lost his reelection to a Trump-backed candidate, so he had less political capital to protect. He stayed silent for days, letting the pressure build, then framed his support as a pragmatic choice—not enthusiasm for Blanche, but acceptance that he was the better option available.
Mark
The anti-weaponization fund seems like it was the real issue. What was that actually about?
Mimi
It was a proposed $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who claimed the federal government had wronged them. Republicans worried it could be used selectively or become a political tool. When Blanche rescinded it, the objections largely dissolved—it was less about Blanche himself and more about what he might do with the Justice Department's power.
Mark
How unusual is a 50-49 confirmation for attorney general?
Mimi
It's extraordinarily tight. You're talking about the nation's top law enforcement official confirmed by a single vote, with two Republicans actively opposing him. That's a sign of deep partisan division, but also that Blanche's own background as Trump's lawyer made him controversial even within his own party.
Mark
What does his background tell us about what kind of attorney general he'll be?
Mimi
He's a career prosecutor and private attorney, so he has the technical credentials. But his entire recent profile is tied to defending Trump. He wasn't chosen for independent judgment—he was chosen for loyalty. That's the real story beneath the confirmation fight.
El Pulso
- A 50-49 confirmation vote — decided in the early hours of a Saturday morning — left almost no room for error, with every defection carrying the weight of the entire nomination.
- A proposed $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund became the fault line within the GOP, threatening to fracture the coalition Blanche needed before he quietly rescinded the directive that created it.
- Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski broke from their party to oppose Blanche, forcing the entire outcome onto the shoulders of a single undeclared senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
- Cassidy, having already lost his seat to a Trump-backed challenger, emerged from days of silence to argue not for Blanche's perfection, but for his relative value — a pragmatic calculus that sealed the vote.
- Blanche was sworn in before Judge Emil Bove, his former colleague on Trump's defense team, in an Oval Office ceremony that made visible the tight web connecting the president's legal world to the Justice Department's new leadership.
In the quiet hours of a Saturday morning, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general by the narrowest of margins — a single vote, cast by a senator who had long kept his own counsel. Blanche, who once stood beside Donald Trump at the defense table through 34 felony counts, now stands at the head of the Justice Department, the nation's highest law enforcement office. His confirmation, shaped by a rescinded billion-dollar fund and the calculated pragmatism of a senator with little left to lose, reflects how deeply personal loyalty and institutional power have become intertwined in this political moment.
Todd Blanche was sworn in as attorney general Monday in the Oval Office, his hand raised before Judge Emil Bove as the president looked on. The ceremony followed a 50-49 Senate confirmation vote in the early hours of Saturday morning — a margin so thin it had seemed, for weeks, entirely uncertain.
Blanche came to the role through an unusual path. He joined Trump's legal team in 2023 after the president was indicted in the hush money case involving Stormy Daniels, stood beside him through a trial that ended in 34 felony convictions, and was nominated for the deputy attorney general post shortly after Trump won the election. He had been serving as acting attorney general since April.
The confirmation nearly collapsed under the weight of a proposed $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate people who claimed harm from federal government actions. Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis resisted the nomination until Blanche formally rescinded the directive creating the fund, finally bringing them into the fold. But Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski then announced their opposition, leaving the nomination's fate entirely in the hands of Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
Cassidy had been silent for days. He had already lost his Senate seat to a Trump-backed challenger, giving him unusual freedom from political consequence. On Friday evening, he took the floor and announced his support — not as an endorsement of Blanche's record, but as a judgment that Blanche would serve more effectively than any acting replacement might. That single declaration was enough.
The oath was administered by Judge Bove, who had himself served on Trump's defense team before his appointment to the federal bench — a detail that quietly illuminated how closely the president's legal circle and the Justice Department's new leadership have become aligned.
Todd Blanche took the oath of office as attorney general in the Oval Office on Monday, his hand raised before Judge Emil Bove while the president watched. The ceremony came after the Senate voted 50-49 early Saturday morning to confirm him, a margin so narrow that it required the deciding support of a single Republican senator who had spent weeks refusing to say which way he would vote.
Blanche, who had been serving as acting attorney general since April, is a former defense lawyer who joined Donald Trump's legal team in 2023 after the president was indicted in the hush money case involving Stormy Daniels. He remained at Trump's side through the trial that resulted in guilty verdicts on 34 felony counts in May 2024, and was nominated for the deputy attorney general position shortly after Trump won the presidential election in November. His path to the top law enforcement job in the country was neither smooth nor assured.
For weeks, Democrats had pledged uniform opposition to his nomination, and several Republicans harbored their own doubts. The sticking point for a number of GOP senators was a proposed $1.8 billion fund designed to compensate people who claimed they had been harmed by federal government actions. The so-called anti-weaponization fund troubled senators including John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, even after Blanche testified in June that the initiative was effectively dead. The uncertainty persisted until Blanche issued an order rescinding the directive that had created the fund, which finally moved Cornyn and Tillis to support his confirmation.
But two other Republicans—Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska—announced their opposition last week, which meant the nomination's fate rested entirely on Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Cassidy had been notably willing to depart from his party's positions in recent months, particularly after losing his own reelection bid to a Trump-endorsed challenger. He had remained silent on Blanche for days, giving no indication of how he would vote. Then, on Friday evening, Cassidy took to the Senate floor and announced his support, framing the choice not as one between Blanche and perfection, but between Blanche and an alternative acting attorney general who might prove less effective under Trump's leadership.
Blanche's background in law enforcement and private practice had prepared him for the role in conventional ways. He earned his law degree from Brooklyn Law School, clerked for two federal judges in New York, and spent time as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York before moving into private practice at firms including WilmerHale and Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. In 2023, he started his own firm, Blanche Law, which he left to join Trump's defense team.
The confirmation vote took place early Saturday morning after an overnight Senate session as lawmakers prepared to leave for their August recess. With Cassidy's decisive support, Blanche's nomination passed by a single vote, making him the nation's top law enforcement official. Judge Bove, who had served alongside Blanche on Trump's legal defense team before his own appointment to the federal bench, administered the oath in a ceremony that underscored the close ties between the president's legal circle and the Justice Department's new leadership.
Citas Notables
Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump.— Senator Bill Cassidy, announcing his support for Blanche's confirmation
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