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The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as the 88th Attorney General of the United States in a 50-49 vote early Saturday morning, capping months of delay and an unusual Republican defection that exposed fractures inside the party over the direction of the Trump Justice Department. Blanche, who served as Trump’s personal criminal defense lawyer before joining the administration, had been running the DOJ in an acting capacity since April after Trump fired Pam Bondi.
The only two Republicans to vote no were Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who joined all Senate Democrats in opposing the nomination. Both senators publicly stated their concern that the Justice Department had drifted into a posture of political retaliation rather than independent law enforcement. Murkowski, who announced her opposition early Friday, said per PBS News the country needs an attorney general “who will check the worst impulses of this administration.” Collins, who had been telegraphing similar reservations for weeks, previously cited concerns over DOJ positions on IRS enforcement shielding, the anti-weaponization fund, and abortion-related prosecutorial decisions.
Per the New York Times, the path to confirmation was ultimately cleared when Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana agreed to support Blanche’s nomination after weeks of negotiation, despite his own stated reservations. Cassidy’s vote made the difference. Had any other Republican peeled away, the nomination would have failed on a 49-50 tie, with Vice President Vance casting no tie-breaking vote needed.
Blanche’s background is unusual for an attorney general. Before joining the Trump administration as Deputy AG in January 2025, he spent years as a white-collar defense attorney in private practice, including representing Trump himself across three of the criminal cases brought against the then-former president in 2023 and 2024. That history informed both his nomination and his opposition: supporters argued it gave him a unique understanding of prosecutorial overreach; critics argued it made his independence from his former client structurally impossible.
He now takes formal command of an agency that oversees more than 100,000 employees, 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the FBI, DEA, U.S. Marshals, ATF, and the Bureau of Prisons. The DOJ has been at the center of nearly every major political dispute of the Trump second term, from the anti-weaponization fund controversy to immigration enforcement to investigations of political opponents. Blanche’s confirmation does not resolve any of those underlying tensions — it simply attaches a name to the chair that was already occupied.
Collins and Murkowski’s no votes are notable not for their practical effect — they were insufficient to block the nomination — but for what they signal. Both senators represent a wing of the Republican Party that has watched the second Trump administration consolidate executive control without mounting any real institutional opposition. Their votes Saturday may have been the most visible dissent yet, even as the confirmation rolled through anyway.
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