Trump Pick CONFIRMED During Midnight Senate Vote

Todd Blanche’s path to the Justice Department’s top job was decided less by speeches than by a settlement fight that nearly blew up his confirmation.

Quick Take

Blanche won confirmation after the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced his nomination 12-10 along party lines.
The fight centered on a disputed settlement tied to President Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and a proposed $1.8 billion fund.
Blanche gave written assurances that there was “no Fund,” which helped win over Republican holdouts.
His earlier Senate confirmation as Deputy Attorney General gave supporters a ready-made credential, even as critics questioned his independence.

The Confirmation Fight Turned on One Settlement

Blanche’s confirmation battle was not mainly about legal skill or courtroom pedigree. It turned on whether he could be trusted to unwind a controversial deal that had alarmed even some Republicans. The New York Times reported that Blanche’s role in resolving President Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service nearly derailed his nomination, and that he only broke the impasse after reaching a late deal with two Republican holdouts.

According to Associated Press reporting, the decisive issue was a proposed $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies who said they were prosecuted for political reasons. Blanche issued an order saying “there is no Fund,” and the Justice Department also narrowed the scope of the tax-immunity language tied to the settlement. That sequence mattered because it gave wavering senators something concrete to point to, even if critics still doubted the durability of the promises.

Why Republicans Moved, and Why Democrats Did Not

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 to advance Blanche after the written assurances satisfied Republican holdouts John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. That vote showed the real shape of the fight: not a broad bipartisan embrace, but a narrow truce on the GOP side. Politico reported that the committee moved only after Blanche agreed in writing to nullify the fund and limit the audit immunity deal.

Democrats never came close to backing him. Reporting from the New York Times described the nomination as part of a wider split over a Justice Department seen as central to Trump’s effort to punish perceived enemies. That framing gave the opposition more than a procedural complaint. It turned Blanche into a test case for whether a president’s former lawyer can run a department without dragging old loyalties into public power.

A Familiar Pattern for Trump’s Justice Department

Blanche did not arrive at this moment as a stranger to Senate scrutiny. Congress.gov shows he was already confirmed by the Senate in March 2025 as Deputy Attorney General, by a 52-46 vote. The Senate Judiciary Committee also reminded him during the hearing that the Senate had already judged his fitness for high office and confirmed him as the department’s second-in-command. Supporters could therefore argue that he had already cleared one serious vetting process.

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

Critics, however, focused on a different fact: Blanche had been Trump’s personal or criminal defense lawyer. That relationship did not prove misconduct, but it did sharpen doubts about whether he could act as an independent attorney general. Reuters and NPR both tied the nomination to broader worries about politicization inside the department, while CNN noted that the Epstein files and the anti-weaponization fund added to the pressure on his confirmation.

The Final Vote Told Its Own Story

The final Senate vote sealed the result, but it did not erase the controversy. ABC News reported that Blanche was confirmed 50-49, with all Democrats opposed and only a razor-thin margin of Republican support. That outcome showed a nominee who had survived, not a nominee who had united the chamber. In practical terms, the vote said the Senate accepted the paperwork, the promises, and the politics, even if many lawmakers still disliked the package.

That is the hard truth of modern confirmation battles. The formal vote can settle the office, but it cannot settle the mistrust. Blanche’s supporters saw a nominee with prior Senate confirmation and a written fix for the settlement mess. His critics saw a former Trump lawyer elevated over objections tied to money, loyalty, and the use of federal power. Both readings drew from the same record, which is why the fight became so intense.