The Senate voted early Sunday morning to elevate acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the permanent post after a key Republican holdout, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, salvaged Blanche’s confirmation.

Blanche was narrowly confirmed 50-49, with all but two Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — voting to install him at the helm of the Trump administration’s Justice Department.

Collins said she opposed Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer who has served as acting attorney general since April, because of “several actions” he took that she said “eroded” the department’s political independence. Murkowski cited the Justice Department’s botched release of the files of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and its targeting of Trump’s enemies, among other concerns.

Their decisions left the confirmation dangling by one vote until Cassidy announced in a Senate floor speech late Friday morning that he had decided to support Trump’s nominee. The senator had criticized Blanche’s creation of a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded “anti-weaponization” fund as part of a deal between Trump and the IRS over an alleged leak of his tax records.

Criticizing Blanche for “poor judgement” in creating the fund and calling Trump’s pick “not perfect,” Cassidy nevertheless said he would support the nomination.

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Sydney Carruth

Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.