By David Morgan and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
WASHINGTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) - U.S. 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. Both the tax-immunity agreement, which barred the IRS from auditing previous tax returns of Trump, his sons and their family business, and the fund emerged from Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
CONCERN OVER SLUSH FUND
Questions remain, though, about whether that commitment is legally binding, and whether Trump, who has said he loves the idea of the fund, could later press Blanche, his former personal attorney, to revive a similar program under another name.
That concern was central to the last two Republican senators Blanche needed to convince — Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski — both of whom met with Blanche on Wednesday after signaling they had not yet decided how they would vote. Murkowski had cited her lack of confidence in Blanche to "check the worst impulses of this administration."
"I take issue with the handling of the release of the Epstein files; the sweeping immunity protections granted to the President, his family, and their businesses; the statements that have been made to anti-abortion groups; and the repeated targeting of individuals ranging from former administration staff to sitting U.S. Senators," Murkowski said in a post on social media platform X.
Cassidy, who represents Louisiana, criticized Blanche's role in settling Trump's IRS lawsuit but said he ultimately trusted Blanche to give the president candid legal advice.
Blanche will take the helm of a Justice Department that has undergone significant change in the first year and a half of Trump's second term. Under Blanche's leadership, the department has sought prosecutions of Trump's perceived enemies, caused the mass departures of career prosecutors and stated that it served at the direction of the president, a break with longstanding norms of independence.
CRIME AT RECORD LOWS
Federal judges have on multiple occasions criticized prosecutors for bringing what they described as weak cases, and grand juries have declined to indict in some instances. Political appointees also removed senior career officials seen as resistant to the administration's agenda, significantly reducing staff in the civil rights division, the ethics office and other divisions.
Blanche has argued that he has helped bring crime to record lows and righted what he says are wrongs brought by the Biden administration against Trump and his conservative allies. Blanche's supporters say he is committed to the Justice Department's core mission of keeping the country safe.
"Mr. Blanche is a tough, fair prosecutor dedicated to the rule of law, and his leadership instills that same zeal throughout the entire Justice Department," Senator Chuck Grassley, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee who shepherded Blanche's nomination, said on Friday.
Some Republican skeptics have said Blanche, who spent nearly a decade as a career prosecutor in New York, is likely the most palatable nominee Trump could have put forward, and that in a permanent capacity, he is more likely to resist White House pressure.
(Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and David Morgan in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
