Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., talks with reporters in the U.S. Capitol after he said he would vote for Todd Blanche to be attorney general on August 7, 2026.Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/AP
Early Saturday morning, the Senate voted to confirm Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the official role after Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) caved and publicly backed President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer the day before.
Blanche was confirmed on a narrow 50-49 vote, with almost all Republicans aligning with the president. The two exceptions were Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). In other words, Cassidy, who initially withheld his approval over concerns about Blanche helping Trump prosecute political enemies, pushing the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization slush fund, and exempting the president from IRS audits, capitulated—knowing that his was the deciding vote. He did so shortly after Murkowski announced her opposition.
In his Friday remarks on the Senate floor, Cassidy raised several reasonable points on why Blanche should not be confirmed: “approving the anti-weaponization slush fund,” “exempting the president from IRS audits,” and the aforementioned “bringing suits against political enemies.”
But the senator—who recently lost his bid for reelection after being targeted as a “disloyal disaster” by Trump—summoned perplexing arguments from his familiar playbook: “Mr. Blanche has made commitments” to be better, Cassidy noted. “I have spoken to Mr. Blanche five or six times,” he assured his colleagues, and not approving Blanche “puts at risk the progress made fighting violent crime, human and drug trafficking, and fraud.” The Trump administration’s fight on crime and human and drug trafficking has led to significant increases in militarization domestically and abroad, while attacks on so-called widespread fraud have cut essential social programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
This isn’t Cassidy’s first rodeo in backing down from his principled opposition to a controversial or clearly unqualified candidate. He used similar logic to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as health secretary as the deciding vote, putting naive trust in his “assurances on vaccines.” And the senator did so again earlier this week—although his was not the sole deciding vote—to confirm Erica Schwartz, the physician and attorney who was Trump’s pick for CDC director. Schwartz repeatedly dodged questions on whether she would carry out all of Kennedy’s policies, even if she believed it contradicted scientific evidence.
On Friday, Cassidy said that confirming Blanche would give the Trump loyalist more power. But he also absolved Blanche of any responsibility should Trump ignore any pushback he might offer once he has been confirmed. So why vote in favor? Doing so normalizes and legitimizes the Justice Department and makes no attempt to address the many issues with weaponization that Cassidy and many of his Democratic colleagues have mentioned.
On Saturday morning on X, Blanche thanked Trump, the Senate, and Justice Department staff. Trump, on the other hand, threatened Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of the two Republican dissenters on the confirmation vote, calling her a “traitor.” He re-posted a 2022 video of former Attorney General Merrick Garland asking for the release of the Mar-a-Lago raid search warrant next to a photo of Murkowski on Truth Social.
“Lisa Murkowski will not vote for Todd Blanche,” the president wrote. “After having no trouble voting for Merrick Garland. Claiming Blanche will weaponize the DOJ and is too political. The same Garland that personally signed off on a raid of President Trump’s home.” He then concluded, “Lisa Murkowski is owned. Traitor.”
