Senate Confirms Trump's Ex-Lawyer as Attorney General by the Narrowest Possible Margin
Todd Blanche was confirmed 50-49, with two Republicans crossing over — the closest Attorney General vote of Trump's second term.
The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche, President Trump's former personal defense lawyer, as U.S. Attorney General early Saturday morning in a 50-49 vote. Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski crossed party lines to vote against him, joining every Democrat.
Why You Should Care
A one-vote margin for the country's top law enforcement job isn't just a close call — it's a signal about how much confidence even members of the president's own party have in someone about to run the entire Justice Department. Blanche previously represented Trump personally in his criminal cases before joining the administration, and the senators who opposed him specifically cited concerns about DOJ independence, including a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund tied to a settlement over the president's leaked tax returns.
Complex to Simple
Picture hiring your own personal lawyer to then go run the city's police department and prosecutor's office. It's not automatically a conflict — plenty of former defense attorneys become respected prosecutors — but the optics require real reassurance that loyalty to a former client won't shape decisions about who gets investigated and who doesn't. That's essentially the reassurance Collins and Murkowski said they never fully got.
What Both Sides Are Saying
Blanche's supporters, led by Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, describe him as a "tough, fair prosecutor dedicated to the rule of law," pointing to his prior career as a Southern District of New York prosecutor before his time defending Trump. Murkowski, in her floor remarks, said she couldn't be confident Blanche would "check the worst impulses of this administration," citing the Epstein-files handling and what she called "sweeping immunity protections" extended to the president and his family.
What's Next
Watch whether Blanche follows through on the written commitment he made to kill the anti-weaponization fund for good — the promise that got Republican holdouts Cornyn and Tillis on board. If the fund resurfaces under any other name, expect this confirmation fight to become a recurring flashpoint rather than a closed chapter.
