Todd Blanche Got The Attorney General Nomination. Getting Confirmed Is Another Matter.

The audition is over. Sixty-seven days after Todd Blanche took over as Acting Attorney General, Trump has submitted his name to the Senate for confirmation as the permanent AG, well ahead of midterm elections that could scramble the math considerably.

But it’s not necessarily going to be easy.

Blanche was confirmed as Deputy Attorney General just last year on a party-line vote of 52 to 46, with every Senate Democrat voting no. The intervening year has not done much to expand his coalition (if anything, it’s done the opposite). Though Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is on board — “I’ve worked well with Acting Attorney General Blanche for more than a year and appreciate his commitment to transparency and support for law enforcement,” he wrote — his enthusiasm may not be universally shared on his side of the aisle.

The Republican discomfort starts with the Epstein files. Blanche’s role personally intervening to keep Epstein files buried, including flying to prison to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, drew criticism from both parties. Maxwell testified that Trump had done nothing wrong, and shortly thereafter found herself transferred to a minimum security facility. The optics were not great, and they haven’t gotten better with time — Blanche was ultimately sued over the cover-up.

Then came the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund”, a Blanche-administered slush fund drawn from the Treasury’s Judgment Fund to compensate Trump allies, which Blanche ultimately testified was dead after it drew bipartisan condemnation and a court loss. The episode left a mark. Outgoing Senator Thom Tillis has already made his position clear: he wants Blanche to condemn January 6 rioters who attacked police officers before he’ll commit to a confirmation vote. With Republicans holding 53 seats, there is very little margin for defection.

Democrats, for their part, are not leaving any ambiguity about where they stand. “Todd Blanche doesn’t work for the American people. He works for one man,” said Xavier Becerra, the leading Democratic candidate in the California governor’s race. “He weaponized the DOJ to go after Trump’s enemies. He created a slush fund for Trump’s allies. He botched the Epstein files. He turned the nation’s top law enforcement office into a personal favor factory. The Senate must reject this nomination.”

That’s a tidy summary of what Blanche’s audition for the position looked like. Plus, you know a press conference about a missing bullet, threats to reporters, a central legal theory dismantled before the Comey trial even started, and enough sycophancy to inspire a John Oliver Dr. Seuss parody. You and I might find the display embarrassing but Trump, apparently, liked what he saw.

The audition is over. Sixty-seven days after Todd Blanche took over as Acting Attorney General, Trump has submitted his name to the Senate for confirmation as the permanent AG, well ahead of midterm elections that could scramble the math considerably.

But it’s not necessarily going to be easy.

Blanche was confirmed as Deputy Attorney General just last year on a party-line vote of 52 to 46, with every Senate Democrat voting no. The intervening year has not done much to expand his coalition (if anything, it’s done the opposite). Though Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is on board — “I’ve worked well with Acting Attorney General Blanche for more than a year and appreciate his commitment to transparency and support for law enforcement,” he wrote — his enthusiasm may not be universally shared on his side of the aisle.

The Republican discomfort starts with the Epstein files. Blanche’s role personally intervening to keep Epstein files buried, including flying to prison to interview Ghislaine Maxwell, drew criticism from both parties. Maxwell testified that Trump had done nothing wrong, and shortly thereafter found herself transferred to a minimum security facility. The optics were not great, and they haven’t gotten better with time — Blanche was ultimately sued over the cover-up.

Then came the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund”, a Blanche-administered slush fund drawn from the Treasury’s Judgment Fund to compensate Trump allies, which Blanche ultimately testified was dead after it drew bipartisan condemnation and a court loss. The episode left a mark. Outgoing Senator Thom Tillis has already made his position clear: he wants Blanche to condemn January 6 rioters who attacked police officers before he’ll commit to a confirmation vote. With Republicans holding 53 seats, there is very little margin for defection.

Democrats, for their part, are not leaving any ambiguity about where they stand. “Todd Blanche doesn’t work for the American people. He works for one man,” said Xavier Becerra, the leading Democratic candidate in the California governor’s race. “He weaponized the DOJ to go after Trump’s enemies. He created a slush fund for Trump’s allies. He botched the Epstein files. He turned the nation’s top law enforcement office into a personal favor factory. The Senate must reject this nomination.”

That’s a tidy summary of what Blanche’s audition for the position looked like. Plus, you know a press conference about a missing bullet, threats to reporters, a central legal theory dismantled before the Comey trial even started, and enough sycophancy to inspire a John Oliver Dr. Seuss parody. You and I might find the display embarrassing but Trump, apparently, liked what he saw.