Senate confirms Todd Blanche as attorney general
The Senate voted to confirm Todd Blanche as the next attorney general early Saturday, capping a tumultuous path to office for President Trump's former personal attorney.The big picture: Blanche's appointment is a win for the Trump administration, especially after a journey that saw some Republicans hold out at multiple stages of the process.At one point Trump threatened to keep him as acting attorney general for months, after two GOP senators withheld their votes to advance him from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) both eventually supported Blanche's advancement after Blanche confirmed that a controversial $1.776 billion fund to pay out perceived victims of political weaponization was dead.Driving the news: The pre-dawn vote was split 50-49, mostly along party lines. Every Democratic member present voted against the Trump nominee, joined by GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine). Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was not present amid a lengthy health-related absence.Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) was broadly seen as Democrats' best shot at blocking Blanche's nomination, but he announced Friday that he'd vote in favor of the president's former personal attorney.Blanche has been serving in the role in an acting capacity since this spring.State of play: Blanche will now formally take over the post held by Pam Bondi before she was pushed out. With Blanche as acting attorney general, the DOJ has continued its unconventionally close alignment with the White House, renewing attempts to prosecute individuals in line with the president's wishes.Friction point: While Blanche won over Republican defectors on the controversial fund, he's continued to face sharp criticism from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein — stemming from another controversy that threatened to derail his nomination.Tillis had given Blanche another mandate to earn his vote: meeting with Epstein victims. Blanche did so, but multiple survivors publicly panned the meeting as demoralizing and unproductive.The bottom line: Not much changes with "acting" dropped from Blanche's title. But his confirmation represents the official start of an aggressive new era for the DOJ.Go deeper: Blanche poised for confirmation vote after he kills Trump's fund
