Midnight Senate Vote CONFIRMS Trump’s Nominee

Todd Blanche’s path to President Trump’s top law enforcement job turned on a paper trail, a party-line fight, and one disputed deal that nearly blew up his rise.

Story Snapshot

Blanche was already Senate-confirmed once before, when the Senate approved him as Deputy Attorney General in March 2025 by a 52-46 vote.
His attorney general nomination moved forward only after he issued written assurances on the settlement that had sparked Republican resistance.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced him 12-10, showing how narrow the coalition around him had become.
The final Senate vote confirmed Blanche 50-49, underscoring just how divided the chamber remained.

How Blanche Won Over Holdouts

Blanche’s confirmation fight centered on a settlement tied to President Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Senate Republicans questioned whether it created a $1.8 billion compensation fund and a broad tax-immunity deal for Trump and his family. Blanche answered by putting his position in writing. He said there was “no Fund,” and the Justice Department said the tax protection applied only to open claims and did not shield future filings.

That was enough to break the deadlock. Senator John Cornyn and Senator Thom Tillis had pressed for clearer limits on the deal before they would back him, and their support gave Blanche the votes he needed in committee. The Senate Judiciary Committee then advanced his nomination on a 12-10 party-line vote. The move did not end the fight. It only shifted the argument from the committee room to the Senate floor.

Why Supporters Said He Was Qualified

Supporters pointed to Blanche’s existing Senate confirmation as a major credential. Congress’s nomination record shows the Senate approved him as Deputy Attorney General on March 5, 2025, by a 52-46 vote. The committee hearing also leaned on that history. Chairman Chuck Grassley said the Senate had already judged Blanche fit for high office and confirmed him as the department’s second-in-command. For backers, that record made him a tested insider, not a fresh unknown.

Blanche also entered the job with deep ties to President Trump’s legal world. CNN described him as Trump’s former personal lawyer, and The New York Times said he had been Trump’s criminal defense lawyer. That closeness gave him inside knowledge of the Justice Department’s fights, but it also fueled criticism. In Washington, the same trait can look like experience to one side and dependence to the other. Blanche’s case showed both readings at once.

Why Critics Never Let Go

Opponents saw the settlement dispute as more than a paperwork problem. They argued that a nominee for attorney general should not have to reassure senators that a controversial compensation fund was dead. The New York Times said the vote reflected a widening split over a department at the center of Trump’s effort to punish and humiliate perceived enemies. Reuters also noted that Blanche had baggage that could have sunk past nominees.

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

The tension ran deeper because Blanche had once pledged to halt investigations and prosecutions similar to those that brought charges against Trump. That line mattered. It gave critics a ready-made argument that he would carry Trump’s personal grievances into the Justice Department. Even so, the record here does not show a sworn contradiction or a formal ethics finding that would prove disqualification. The case against him rested more on judgment, trust, and political loyalty than on a clean legal refutation.

What the Final Vote Said About the Moment

The final Senate result was narrow enough to tell its own story. ABC News reported a 50-49 confirmation, with all Democrats opposed and only a thin Republican cushion behind him. Once Bill Cassidy announced support, Blanche’s confirmation became likely, even after earlier doubts from Senators Susan Collins and others. The ending was decisive, but not comforting. A top law enforcement nominee should inspire broad confidence. Blanche instead exposed how fragile that standard has become.

In the end, Blanche’s ascent showed how modern confirmation fights are won less by grand speeches than by controlled damage. He did not sweep away objections. He boxed them in. He answered the most dangerous one in writing, won over enough Republicans to move forward, and then survived a Senate that clearly did not trust him much. That is not a clean endorsement. It is a narrow verdict from a chamber that had already made up its mind to live with the risk.