Senate confirms Todd Blanche as US attorney general in narrow early-morning vote

Senate confirms Todd Blanche as US attorney general in narrow early-morning vote

The US Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Todd Blanche as attorney general early Saturday morning, elevating him to lead the Department of Justice's more than 100,000 employees after weeks of political uncertainty.

The confirmation vote, held after 4 a.m. during a late-night session that ran into the early hours ahead of a planned Senate recess, passed by the narrowest of margins at 50-49. Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joined Democrats in opposition, underscoring deep divisions over the nomination.

Blanche, who had been serving as acting attorney general since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April, now formally leads the nation's top law enforcement agency. The 51-year-old expressed gratitude on social media, writing that he was

deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me

and thanking the Senate

for staying late to complete this process.

From prosecutor to Trump's defender

Blanche brings an unusual background to the role. He spent nearly fifteen years as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, working his way up from paralegal to Assistant U.S. Attorney and later supervisor, where he prosecuted gangs and other federal crimes. He attended Brooklyn Law School at night while working full-time as a paralegal at the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan, graduating cum laude in 2003.

In 2023, Trump hired Blanche as his personal attorney to defend him from multiple criminal charges, including hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, mishandling classified documents, and attempting to overturn the 2020 election results. Blanche led Trump's criminal defense team through the New York hush money case, which ended in Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts. He also represented Trump in two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith, both of which were dropped after Trump won the 2024 election.

The Senate previously confirmed Blanche as Deputy Attorney General in March 2025 by a vote of 52-46. He was elevated to acting attorney general in April 2026 after Trump dismissed Bondi, who had served as the 87th U.S. Attorney General for approximately 14 months following her own narrow confirmation in February 2025 by a vote of 54-46.

Political controversy and compromise

Blanche's confirmation faced significant obstacles from both Democrats and some Republicans. Democrats uniformly opposed the nomination, accusing Trump of transforming the Department of Justice into a political weapon serving the president rather than the American people.

The attorney general is supposed to be the people's lawyer. Mr Blanche continues to operate as the president's personal lawyer, treating the Justice Department like a law firm serving one client -- the president.

Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Tuesday.

The nomination nearly collapsed over two controversial proposals. The first was an attempt to establish a $1.8 billion fund for what Trump calls victims of politicized prosecutions. The fund would likely have benefited the approximately 1,500 defendants whom Trump pardoned on his first day in office in January 2025 for their role in the January 6, 2021 Capitol attack, including those convicted of assaulting police officers with weapons.

The second sticking point was an extraordinary proposal granting Trump immunity from tax audits. Blanche ultimately defused internal Republican opposition by issuing a written order over the weekend scrapping the so-called political "anti-weaponization fund" and limiting the audit immunity agreement to apply only retroactively to past tax years for Trump, his two eldest sons, and the Trump Organization, not future filings.

The final vote came down to the support of Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whose backing proved crucial with Senator Mitch McConnell absent from the vote and Murkowski in opposition.

Questions about DOJ independence

The confirmation intensifies ongoing debates about the independence of the Department of Justice from presidential influence. Since the Watergate era's "Saturday Night Massacre," both Congress and the DOJ have worked to preserve the department's political insulation through policies and internal guidelines, maintaining independence through informal norms rather than legal requirements.

Critics warn that Blanche's close personal and professional ties to Trump could further erode these traditional boundaries. Since assuming the acting role, Blanche has been closely associated with what Democrats characterize as a Trump "retribution" campaign against the president's opponents.

Blanche has also faced criticism from victims of Jeffrey Epstein over the handling of investigative files about the convicted sex offender, a one-time close friend of Trump.

Trump has openly sought to bring nominally independent government agencies under more direct presidential control, a shift that has upended longstanding US political norms. The president calls Blanche a "star" and has expressed full confidence in his leadership of the Justice Department.