{"id":154156,"date":"2026-06-09T15:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T23:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/09\/todd-blanche-got-the-attorney-general-nomination-getting-confirmed-is-another-matter\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T15:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T23:32:18","slug":"todd-blanche-got-the-attorney-general-nomination-getting-confirmed-is-another-matter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/06\/09\/todd-blanche-got-the-attorney-general-nomination-getting-confirmed-is-another-matter\/","title":{"rendered":"Todd Blanche Got The Attorney General Nomination. Getting Confirmed Is Another Matter."},"content":{"rendered":"

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

But it\u2019s not necessarily going to be easy.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s done the opposite). Though Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is on board \u2014 \u201cI\u2019ve worked well with Acting Attorney General Blanche for more than a year and appreciate his commitment to transparency and support for law enforcement,\u201d he wrote<\/a> \u2014 his enthusiasm may not be universally shared on his side of the aisle.<\/p>\n

The Republican discomfort starts with the Epstein files. Blanche\u2019s role personally intervening to keep Epstein files buried, <\/a>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\u2019t gotten better with time \u2014 Blanche was ultimately sued over the cover-up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then came the $1.8 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d<\/a>, a Blanche-administered slush fund drawn from the Treasury\u2019s Judgment Fund to compensate Trump allies, which Blanche ultimately testified was dead<\/a> 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\u2019ll commit to a confirmation vote. With Republicans holding 53 seats, there is very little margin for defection.<\/p>\n

Democrats, for their part, are not leaving any ambiguity about where they stand. \u201cTodd Blanche doesn\u2019t work for the American people. He works for one man,\u201d said Xavier Becerra, the leading Democratic candidate in the California governor\u2019s race. \u201cHe weaponized the DOJ to go after Trump\u2019s enemies. He created a slush fund for Trump\u2019s allies. He botched the Epstein files. He turned the nation\u2019s top law enforcement office into a personal favor factory. The Senate must reject this nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a tidy summary of what Blanche\u2019s audition <\/a>for the position looked like. Plus, you know a press conference about a missing bullet<\/a>, threats to reporters<\/a>, a central legal theory dismantled before the Comey trial even started<\/a>, and enough sycophancy to inspire a John Oliver Dr. Seuss parody<\/a>. You and I might find the display embarrassing but Trump, apparently, liked what he saw.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Todd Blanche Got The Attorney General Nomination. Getting Confirmed Is Another Matter.<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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

But it\u2019s not necessarily going to be easy.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s done the opposite). Though Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley is on board \u2014 \u201cI\u2019ve worked well with Acting Attorney General Blanche for more than a year and appreciate his commitment to transparency and support for law enforcement,\u201d he wrote<\/a> \u2014 his enthusiasm may not be universally shared on his side of the aisle.<\/p>\n

The Republican discomfort starts with the Epstein files. Blanche\u2019s role personally intervening to keep Epstein files buried, <\/a>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\u2019t gotten better with time \u2014 Blanche was ultimately sued over the cover-up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Then came the $1.8 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d<\/a>, a Blanche-administered slush fund drawn from the Treasury\u2019s Judgment Fund to compensate Trump allies, which Blanche ultimately testified was dead<\/a> 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\u2019ll commit to a confirmation vote. With Republicans holding 53 seats, there is very little margin for defection.<\/p>\n

Democrats, for their part, are not leaving any ambiguity about where they stand. \u201cTodd Blanche doesn\u2019t work for the American people. He works for one man,\u201d said Xavier Becerra, the leading Democratic candidate in the California governor\u2019s race. \u201cHe weaponized the DOJ to go after Trump\u2019s enemies. He created a slush fund for Trump\u2019s allies. He botched the Epstein files. He turned the nation\u2019s top law enforcement office into a personal favor factory. The Senate must reject this nomination.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a tidy summary of what Blanche\u2019s audition <\/a>for the position looked like. Plus, you know a press conference about a missing bullet<\/a>, threats to reporters<\/a>, a central legal theory dismantled before the Comey trial even started<\/a>, and enough sycophancy to inspire a John Oliver Dr. Seuss parody<\/a>. You and I might find the display embarrassing but Trump, apparently, liked what he saw.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Todd Blanche Got The Attorney General Nomination. Getting Confirmed Is Another Matter.<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s not necessarily going to be easy. Blanche was confirmed as Deputy Attorney General […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":154157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-154156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-sl0xh5.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}