Senate confirms Todd Blanche as attorney general after bruising fight

The Senate early Saturday morning confirmed Todd Blanche as the next attorney general, with the nominee narrowly securing sufficient GOP backing after making a number of promises about how he would handle his tenure as the country's top law enforcement officer. The vote was 50-49. "I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me to lead the Department of Justice as our great nation's 88th Attorney General," Blanche wrote early Saturday in a post online, following the vote. Though confirmed along a party-line vote when he was nominated as deputy attorney general in March of last year, Blanche faltered in gaining GOP support to lead the Justice Department after a series of actions that earned pushback from skeptical Republicans. Chief among them was Blanche's decision to sign off on a $1.776 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund expected to funnel money to Trump allies and Jan. 6 defendants. The fund, which Blanche formally rescinded earlier this week, was created in the wake of an agreement to settle a $10 billion suit from President Trump brought against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Blanche was able to clinch confirmation with the reluctant backing of Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who took to the Senate floor Friday morning to announce and explain his much-anticipated decision. "The choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche; it is between Mr. Blanch and another acting attorney general, who may not run the department effectively under President Trump, and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche," he said. But Blanche failed to get the support of Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who both cited concerns about the ability of President Trump's former personal attorney to exert independence as head of the Justice Department. Both also pointed out that the fund could easily be revived in court. "The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration. I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case," Murkowski wrote Friday in announcing her decision not to support him. "I am also keenly aware that the Department's nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund--which likely would have rewarded January 6 protesters--is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage. Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds," she wrote. Collins earlier this week said that while she believed "Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice has become increasingly political." "Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department's independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation," she said. Cassidy also blasted the arrangement despite his support for Blanche. "Mr. Blanche showed poor judgment in approving the anti-weaponization slush fund and exempting the president from IRS audits. No American should be unfairly targeted by the law, but no American should be above the law," he said. Cassidy's eleventh-hour backing of Blanche avoided what could have been a significant delay in the confirmation. Without his vote, the chamber may have been forced to wait until the return of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose intentions on the attorney are unclear. Blanche faced unusually steep resistance from Republicans on this path to securing the promotion.