Todd Blanche survived a bruising confirmation fight to become attorney general by a single vote, an unexpected win for the Trump administration after weeks of Republican holdouts nearly sank the nomination.
The Senate voted 50-49 early Saturday morning to confirm Blanche, Trump's former personal criminal defense lawyer, as the permanent head of the Department of Justice. Two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, broke ranks to join every Senate Democrat in opposition, leaving the outcome in doubt until the final hours before the chamber broke for its August recess.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cast the decisive vote. Cassidy announced Friday morning that he would support Blanche, ending days of suspense over whether the nominee could survive the narrowest possible margin. Mitch McConnell's absence, the Kentucky Republican had just been released from the hospital after more than 50 days following a serious fall, meant Blanche could not afford to lose a single additional GOP vote.
Cassidy framed his decision as a practical one, not a personal endorsement. AP News reported that the Louisiana senator told colleagues on the floor:
"This is not a referendum on President Trump. It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances."
Cassidy went further, telling the New York Post that while he faulted Blanche for showing "poor judgment" on certain issues, the alternative, leaving the Justice Department under an acting attorney general indefinitely, was worse.
The confirmation fight nearly collapsed over a proposed $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" that would have directed taxpayer money to "victims of 'lawfare' by previous administrations." The fund drew fierce resistance from within the GOP caucus, where senators saw it as a politically motivated slush fund with no meaningful oversight.
Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina were the two most vocal holdouts. Both demanded written assurances from the Justice Department that the fund was dead before they would consider voting yes. DOJ ultimately provided those assurances in writing, and both senators voted to confirm.
Blanche formally rescinded the anti-weaponization fund and a separate IRS tax audit immunity provision that had also drawn Republican criticism. The weeks-long standoff with GOP holdouts nearly derailed the nomination entirely before the committee stage.
Trump had also struck what was described as a "sweeping tax audit settlement" with the IRS, a deal that became a major sticking point for Republicans during the confirmation process. The precise terms of that settlement were not disclosed publicly.
Murkowski announced Friday that she would vote no, pointing to Blanche's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files and what she called the administration's effort to build a "slush fund for allies." Her statement was blunt, as the Daily Mail reported:
"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."
Collins told reporters on Tuesday that she would also oppose the nomination. She cited "several actions" Blanche took while serving as acting attorney general that she said "further eroded the department's independence." Collins did not specify which actions she meant.
The two defections were not a surprise by the time the vote arrived. Both senators have broken with Republican nominees before on similar grounds. But with McConnell hospitalized and unable to vote, their opposition turned what should have been a routine party-line confirmation into a genuine cliffhanger.
Blanche had already been running the Justice Department in an acting capacity since April, when Trump fired his predecessor, Pam Bondi. Bondi's dismissal was attributed in part to the botched release of the Epstein files and broader frustrations within the administration over the pace of DOJ's work.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Blanche's nomination on a party-line vote earlier in the week, setting up the floor vote in the final hours before the August recess. During his confirmation hearing, Blanche faced pointed questions about his personal loyalty to Trump, the Epstein files, and concerns about politically motivated investigations.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa framed the vote in stark terms. Fox News reported his statement on the floor:
"A vote for Todd Blanche is a vote for the safety of the American people."
Democrats were unified in opposition. Sen. Dick Durbin captured the minority's argument, as Newsmax reported:
"If there is ever a moment in history when we need an Attorney General above reproach, who is clearly dedicated to ending corruption, even at the highest level of our government, it's right now."
Cassidy's decision to provide the deciding vote carried its own political subplot. Trump had actively campaigned against Cassidy in his primary, endorsing Julia Letlow to challenge the incumbent. That Cassidy nevertheless stepped up to rescue Trump's attorney general pick underscored the practical calculation at work, a permanently acting AG, without Senate confirmation, would have operated under legal and institutional constraints that limited the department's ability to function.
Cassidy said as much in his floor remarks, arguing that Blanche's experience as Trump's former defense lawyer could actually make him more effective at pushing back on presidential overreach, a counterintuitive argument, but one that gave Republican holdouts cover to vote yes. The committee-stage drama had already previewed this dynamic, with holdouts dropping their opposition once they secured written concessions.
The confirmation came as the Senate wrapped up a burst of activity before leaving Washington for several weeks. The chamber had recently confirmed dozens of Trump nominees in a single party-line vote, clearing a backlog that had built up over months of procedural delays.
The 50-49 result was the slimmest possible margin for confirmation. Every Democrat voted no. Two Republicans voted no. One Republican was absent. That left exactly 50 votes, the bare minimum, with no vice-presidential tiebreaker needed only because the opposition fell one short of a tie.
For the Trump administration, the outcome was a win pulled from the edge of defeat. Blanche's nomination was widely considered doomed just days earlier, when the combination of Murkowski's and Collins's defections, McConnell's absence, and Cassidy's silence left the math unworkable. Cassidy's Friday morning announcement changed the calculus overnight.
Blanche now takes over a Justice Department that has been operating without a Senate-confirmed leader since Bondi's departure in April. His confirmation gives the administration a freer hand to pursue its law enforcement priorities without the legal and political limitations that come with an acting appointment.
When it takes a single vote to confirm the nation's top law enforcement officer, the margin between governing and gridlock is thinner than most Americans realize, and the senators who hold that margin know it.
