Senate Votes Before Sunrise to Confirm Todd Blanche as U.S. Attorney General

Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP Photo

The Senate voted in the wee hours Saturday to confirm Todd Blanche as U.S. Attorney General, confirming the nomination of President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney by a vote of 50-49.

The vote, conducted just before 4:30 a.m., capped weeks of drama as Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) opposed Blanche’s nomination at the committee level, before each folded earlier this week.

The confirmation of the appointment was all but sealed Friday after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) took to the Senate floor to announce his support.

Every Democrat opposed the nomination, as did two Republicans, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Murkowski announced her opposition to Blanche as Attorney General in a lengthy X post Friday morning.

Blanche, 52, took to X after the vote, which began at 4:17 a.m. and took less than 15 minutes.

“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,” he posted.

“I am grateful to the Senate for staying late to complete this process. To the dedicated public servants of the Department of Justice, thank you for your work each day to uphold the law and keep our country safe,” he wrote, adding, “God bless America.”

Blanche has been serving as Acting U.S. Attorney General since April, when President Trump fired Pam Bondi in a dispute over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Installing Blanche at US Attorney opens the door further to the president’s “pervasive, breathtaking corruption,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in a statement on X.

“Senate Republicans have handed Trump an excuse on a silver platter to keep up his pervasive, breathtaking corruption.   If you want to wipe out corruption, you can’t have the president’s personal attorney as the Attorney General,” he wrote.

“You don’t need a PhD in political science to know that.   Todd Blanche has no intention of stopping Trump’s corruption. He advanced his career enabling it.

“Every senator who voted to confirm him has now branded themselves as an enabler, too,” Schumer continued.

“Senate Democrats will continue fighting against the Trump administration’s assault on the rule of law and undermining of democratic values. The American people deserve a government that serves the public interest and the law instead of one person’s greed, corruption, and ambition.”

This is a breaking story and has been updated.

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