The Senate voted to confirm Todd Blanche as U.S.attorney general, elevating the Justice Department's No.
2 leader and President Trump's former personal lawyer to head the entire 100,000-plus person department.The Senate vote, early Saturday morning, was 50-49 in favor of Blanche.All Democrats, as well as Republican Sens.
Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, voted against him.Blanche overcame a final speedbump on Friday after securing key support from Republican Sen.Bill Cassidy of Louisiana.
With the absence of Sen.Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Murkowski's opposition, Cassidy's vote was crucial in securing a glidepath for Blanche.Cassidy, who lost his renomination bid to a Trump-backed challenger, acknowledged concerns over Blanche's judgment in exempting the president from IRS audits and said he was particularly troubled by the Department of Justice bringing suits against the president's perceived political enemies.
But he said his decision to back Blanche was not a referendum on the president."Mr.Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this," Cassidy said on Friday.
"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 and who indeed may not be as good as Mr.
Blanche."Blanche's nomination cleared a series of other hurdles, including concerns from lawmakers of both parties about the department's controversial $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.The fund, created as part of a settlement between Trump and the IRS over the president's leaked tax returns, was meant to compensate people who alleged the federal government had been weaponized against them.Blanche first verbally promised that the anti-weaponization fund wasn't moving ahead after it faced legal challenges.
But two Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who are both also leaving Congress — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — said the...