The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General shortly after 4 AM on Friday, voting 50 to 49 in a session that ran overnight and ended around 4:17 AM ET [1][2]. It was the narrowest margin the chamber can produce for a confirmation. The tally recorded 50 yeas, 49 nays, and one senator not voting, which accounts for all 100 members [1].
Two Republicans crossed the aisle to oppose him. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted no alongside every Democrat who was present [1][2]. That left the outcome resting on Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who provided the deciding yes [2]. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the one senator recorded as not voting [1].
Blanche is not new to the department. He was confirmed as Deputy Attorney General in March, and he had been running Justice as acting Attorney General since Pam Bondi was removed in April [2][3]. Friday's vote converts that arrangement into a full, Senate-confirmed appointment. He is now the confirmed Attorney General, no longer acting.
The path to the vote ran through money. In the days before the roll call, Blanche rescinded a $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund tied to a Trump-IRS settlement, a step taken under pressure from Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who had objected to it [3]. The rescission cleared the objection that had kept some Republicans from committing, and the confirmation followed.
The senators who voted no were explicit about why. Collins said 'the Department of Justice has become increasingly political' [2]. Murkowski framed her opposition around what she said the moment demanded, telling colleagues the country needs an Attorney General 'who will check the worst impulses of this administration' [2]. Senate Democratic leader Dick Durbin put it in similar terms on the floor: 'If there is ever a moment in history when we need an Attorney General above reproach...it's right now' [2].
Cassidy, casting the vote that made confirmation possible, cast his support as narrow and specific. 'This is not a referendum on President Trump,' he said. 'It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances' [2].
Strip away the speeches and the record is a plain one. The administration secured a confirmed Attorney General it wanted, and it secured him on the thinnest margin the Senate offers, with two of its own party voting against and warning, on the record, about the independence of the department he will now run [1][2].
