The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as President Trump's permanent attorney general on a 50-49 vote Saturday, the narrowest possible margin, after weeks of intraparty friction over a controversial DOJ order and IRS audit immunity for the president and his family.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana cast the decisive vote, breaking a deadlock that had threatened to leave the Justice Department without Senate-confirmed leadership heading into the August recess. Every Senate Democrat voted against Blanche. Two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, crossed party lines to join them, citing concerns about DOJ politicization and Blanche's handling of a $1.776 billion fund created under his watch as acting attorney general.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was absent due to ongoing health issues, shrinking the Republican margin to the point where Blanche could not afford to lose more than two GOP votes. He lost exactly two, and survived by one.
Cassidy announced his support only after weeks of public hesitation. He faulted Blanche for what he called "poor judgment" in overseeing the anti-weaponization fund and exempting the president from IRS audits. But he framed the choice in practical terms. Fox News reported Cassidy's reasoning in full:
"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."
Cassidy's political position made his vote all the more striking. He voted to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection after January 6, 2021, and lost his own primary race in May after Trump endorsed his opponent. A senator with no future elections to worry about chose to back the president's pick anyway, not out of loyalty, but out of a judgment that the alternative was worse.
The 51-year-old Colorado native had been serving as acting attorney general since April 2, when Trump elevated him from the deputy post after firing Pam Bondi. Blanche previously served as Trump's personal criminal defense lawyer, a fact that drew scrutiny from both parties but that supporters argued gave him unique insight into the pressures a president can place on the Justice Department.
The turbulence around Blanche's confirmation centered on a May 19 DOJ order he oversaw as acting attorney general. That order did two things: it created a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, and it granted Trump, his family members, and his business entities immunity from IRS audits as part of a settlement of a lawsuit the president had filed against the tax agency.
The order drew sharp objections from Republicans who otherwise supported Trump's agenda. Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina stalled the confirmation vote, demanding a written document affirming the fund was dead and clarifying whether the president and his family remained shielded from future IRS audits. Their holdout delayed the process and forced the administration to negotiate.
At his July 15 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Blanche declared the fund "dead." That concession helped clear a path. The committee voted 12-10 along party lines earlier in the week to advance his nomination to the full Senate floor.
But the concession had limits. National Review reported that the IRS settlement agreement shielding Trump and his family from audits remained unchanged despite Republican demands. Cornyn and Tillis ultimately voted yes anyway. Cornyn offered a blunt rationale for his support:
"I think the DOJ needs Senate-confirmed leadership to prevent some of the chaos and dysfunction over there, and I think Blanche is as good as you're going to get."
That reasoning, not enthusiasm for Blanche, but a calculation that confirmed leadership beats indefinite limbo, carried the day for several wavering Republicans. After Cornyn and Tillis announced their support, the path narrowed to one question: Cassidy.
Murkowski and Collins announced before the vote that they would not support Blanche. Both cited his handling of the Epstein files, the Trump-IRS settlement, and what Murkowski described as an increasingly politicized DOJ that has repeatedly gone after the president's political enemies.
Murkowski put her concern in stark terms. AP News reported her warning that once the Senate voted, its leverage over the Justice Department would vanish:
"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."
She also voiced a procedural worry that Newsmax captured from her remarks: "Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds." The concern was straightforward, that Blanche's verbal promise to kill the anti-weaponization fund carried no binding force once he held the permanent title.
Collins offered similar objections but no verbatim statement appeared in the reporting. Both senators represent states where independence from party leadership carries political value, but their votes here reflected a substantive dispute, not posturing. The anti-weaponization fund, the IRS immunity provision, and the DOJ's handling of politically sensitive cases gave them concrete grounds to object.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa spoke ahead of the vote to make the affirmative case for Blanche. He pointed to Blanche's record running the department since April and his performance at the committee hearing.
"Between his proven track record, his presentations to our committee and the support he's received from across the country, I am convinced Mr. Blanche is the right choice to lead the Justice Department."
Grassley framed the vote in public-safety terms: "A vote for Todd Blanche is a vote for the safety of the American people." He cited Blanche's "impressive background" and said the nominee had "shown that he's up to that task" of leading one of the most important offices in the country.
Democrats were unified in opposition. Sen. Dick Durbin argued the moment demanded an attorney general "above reproach, who is clearly dedicated to ending corruption, even at the highest level of our government." No Democrat crossed the aisle.
Blanche now holds the title permanently, but several issues remain unresolved. Whether the anti-weaponization fund has been formally rescinded in writing, or merely declared "dead" at a hearing, is unclear from the available record. The IRS audit immunity provision for Trump and his family appears to remain intact. And the written document that Cornyn and Tillis demanded before the vote has not been publicly described in detail.
Murkowski's warning about lost leverage now applies. The Senate's confirmation power was the one check it held over the acting attorney general. That check is spent. If Blanche reverses course on any of his commitments, the Senate's options narrow to oversight hearings and public pressure, tools with a mixed track record against an executive branch that has shown little interest in yielding ground.
The New York Post reported the final tally as 50-49, with McConnell's absence shaping the entire calculus. Had he been present and voted yes, Blanche could have absorbed a third defection. Had Cassidy voted no, the nomination would have failed outright.
The Justice Department now has a Senate-confirmed leader for the first time since Bondi's departure. Whether that leader operates with the independence the office demands, or whether the concerns raised by members of his own party prove well-founded, is a question only Blanche's conduct can answer.
The Senate gave him the job by the thinnest margin it could. That margin is worth remembering the next time the DOJ makes a decision that tests the line between law enforcement and political loyalty.