Midnight Vote Confirms Trump’s AG Pick

Todd Blanche’s path to the Justice Department’s top job turned into a test of loyalty, power, and Senate patience.

Story Snapshot

Blanche advanced after a tight Senate Judiciary Committee vote and then won final Senate confirmation.
The fight centered on a disputed settlement linked to a proposed $1.8 billion compensation fund and tax immunity for Trump and his family.
Blanche gave written assurances that there was “no Fund,” which helped win over key Republican holdouts.
His earlier Senate confirmation as deputy attorney general gave supporters a ready-made argument that he was already vetted once before.

How Blanche Broke Through

Todd Blanche moved from a shaky nominee to confirmed attorney general after a week of hard Senate bargaining. The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced him on a 12-10 party-line vote, then the full Senate confirmed him 50-49, with two Republicans breaking ranks against him. That kind of finish tells you almost everything about this fight. It was not a broad bipartisan embrace. It was a narrow win built on pressure, deal-making, and relief.

The key turning point came when Blanche gave written assurances to Republican holdouts. According to reporting, he promised that there was “no Fund” and that the disputed $1.8 billion compensation plan would not move forward. Those assurances mattered because they let Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis switch into the yes column. Senator Dick Durbin then argued the promise was unenforceable because it was not signed by the settlement parties.

Why the Fight Got So Ugly

The core dispute was never just about Blanche’s résumé. It was about whether he could be trusted to separate Justice Department power from Trump’s personal interests. Reporting tied the nomination to a settlement involving Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, a proposed anti-weaponization fund, and tax immunity language affecting Trump and his family. That combination gave critics a simple, damaging story: the nominee was being asked to bless a deal that looked too close to personal protection.

Opposition also grew because Blanche was not a stranger to Trump. He had served as Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer and personal lawyer, and The New York Times reported that he had previously pledged to halt investigations and prosecutions similar to those that led to charges against Trump. For supporters, that showed loyalty and experience under pressure. For critics, it raised the oldest question in Washington: can a president’s lawyer really become the nation’s neutral law enforcer?

What the Senate Really Voted On

The Senate did not vote on Blanche in a calm vacuum. It voted after weeks of reporting, hearings, and Republican hesitation. The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing included sharp questions about the settlement and about Blanche’s role in the broader politicization of justice. AP and Politico both reported that the committee advanced him only after the late written assurances helped settle internal GOP resistance. In other words, the vote reflected a negotiated answer, not a clean consensus.

Todd Blanche confirmed as the 88th US attorney general, 50-49, in a 4:17am vote. Collins and Murkowski broke ranks – and with McConnell absent, the deciding vote fell to Bill Cassidy, who just lost his own renomination to a Trump-backed challenger.https://t.co/qe2iJGDKyG

— Go Brief (@gobrief) August 8, 2026

Blanche’s earlier confirmation as deputy attorney general also shaped the debate. Congress’s nomination record shows the Senate confirmed him on March 5, 2025, by a 52-46 vote. That mattered because supporters could point to a real Senate credential, not just a new presidential favor. But the new confirmation fight showed how much more intense the top job is. A deputy can survive scrutiny. An attorney general must also survive suspicion.

Why This Nomination Stands Out

This episode fits a familiar Washington pattern. Presidents often choose loyalists for the Justice Department, then ask the Senate to trust that those ties will not distort law enforcement. Reuters described Blanche as walking into the hearing with baggage that might have sunk earlier nominees, while CNN and NPR highlighted concerns about the Epstein files, the anti-weaponization fund, and Trump-era justice politics. Those are not vague worries. They are the exact ingredients that make a confirmation fight volatile.

Still, the record also shows the limits of the opposition case. The sources here document public concern, not a forensic takedown of Blanche’s written assurances or a formal ethics ruling against him. The Senate confirmed him anyway, and that outcome will now be used as proof that the institution weighed the objections and decided they were not disqualifying. That is the hard reality of modern confirmations: the vote itself becomes part of the argument.