US Senate Republicans on Saturday narrowly confirmed Todd Blanche to be President Donald Trump’s attorney general, capping one of the most contentious cabinet fights of Trump’s second term after bipartisan concerns over Blanche’s independence nearly derailed the nomination.
Blanche won confirmation in a 50-49 vote, with Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski opposing him.
Senator Bill Cassidy was the deciding vote after announcing Friday he thought Blanche was the best option Trump would put forward.
The vote was the culmination of a weeks-long standoff between Senate Republicans and the Trump administration over Blanche, who has served as acting attorney general since April and previously ran day-to-day Justice Department operations as its second-ranking official.
Republican senators had raised concerns about Blanche’s handling of the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents, as well as his role in establishing Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and a related tax-immunity agreement for Trump and his sons.
But Blanche overcame those challenges in frantic meetings around Capitol Hill over the last several weeks, ultimately agreeing in writing to narrow the tax-immunity agreement and end the “weaponization” payments, which critics have called a slush fund for Trump’s allies, including those who rioted at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. —Reuters
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