Trump's Ex-Personal Lawyer Just Became America's Top Cop in a 50-49 Vote

One Vote. One Very Uncomfortable Louisiana Senator.

The deciding vote came from Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a man who voted to convict Trump after January 6th and then spent the next several years watching Trump systematically destroy his political career for it. Trump backed a primary challenger who pushed Cassidy into retirement. And yet, there Cassidy was Friday night, casting the vote that handed Trump his attorney general.

Cassidy framed it as pragmatism. According to the BBC, he said this was "not a referendum on President Trump" but a decision about Blanche specifically, and that Senate confirmation would give Blanche "greater leverage to push for things that should be pushed for." That is one reading of the situation. Another reading is that Cassidy just handed the keys of the Justice Department to the guy who used to bill Trump by the hour.

For what it's worth, two Republicans did hold the line. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voted no alongside every single Democrat. Murkowski had announced her opposition on Friday, saying she lacked confidence in Blanche to "check the worst impulses of this administration." Collins raised concerns but said she ultimately trusted Blanche to give the president candid legal advice. She voted no anyway. Make of that what you will.

The $1.8 Billion Slush Fund Nobody Wants to Talk About

Here is what nearly sank the nomination before Cassidy rescued it. Blanche, while serving as acting attorney general since April, helped set up what the Trump administration called an "anti-weaponisation" fund. The BBC reports the fund was pitched as compensation for individuals who alleged government persecution. Critics, including Murkowski, feared it would funnel money to people prosecuted for storming the Capitol on January 6th. The fund was budgeted at $1.8 billion.

Blanche pledged during his confirmation hearings to walk the fund back. Senators accepted this. The BBC noted it remains entirely unclear whether that commitment is legally binding, or whether Trump could later persuade Blanche to revive something similar under a different name. So the man who just got confirmed on the strength of a promise that may not be enforceable is now America's attorney general. Breathe that in.

There was also the matter of Blanche's role in settling Trump's $10 billion lawsuit with the IRS, which Collins flagged as a concern. That figure is not a typo. Ten billion dollars. Between the President and the tax collection agency. Handled by the man now running the Justice Department. The fact that this was treated as a secondary issue during the hearings tells you everything about how normalized the abnormal has become.

From Defense Table to the Head of the Table

Blanche was already serving as deputy attorney general before stepping into the acting role in April, after Pam Bondi was fired. Before that, he was Trump's personal criminal defense attorney. The BBC describes him plainly as Trump's "former personal lawyer," which is technically accurate and also the most sanitized possible description of the relationship.

Blanche represented Trump through federal indictments, hush money trials, and the full circus of the last several years of American legal history. He was in the room. He knows where everything is. And now he controls the building that could theoretically investigate any of it. After the vote, Blanche said he was "deeply honoured by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me." He did not mention anything about the trust and confidence of the American public, which is a different constituency and apparently a secondary one.

Democrats Are Furious, Republicans Are Thrilled, and Here We Are

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer did not take the confirmation with grace. On X, he wrote that Blanche's appointment would be an "excuse on a silver platter to keep up his pervasive, breathtaking corruption," and added: "Todd Blanche has no intention of stopping Trump's corruption. He advanced his career enabling it." Schumer also said every senator who voted yes had "branded themselves as an enabler, too."

Republicans, meanwhile, celebrated. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley called Blanche's handling of the confirmation process a display of "extraordinary patience, compassion and tenacity," and wrote on X that "there's no doubt he's qualified." Grassley has been in the Senate since 1981. He has seen a lot of attorneys general. Presumably he knows what qualified looks like. Presumably.