{"id":159998,"date":"2026-08-10T13:37:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/10\/the-senate-confirmed-todd-blanche-at-4-am-nothing-good-happens-after-midnight\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T13:37:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T21:37:26","slug":"the-senate-confirmed-todd-blanche-at-4-am-nothing-good-happens-after-midnight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/08\/10\/the-senate-confirmed-todd-blanche-at-4-am-nothing-good-happens-after-midnight\/","title":{"rendered":"The Senate Confirmed Todd Blanche At 4 am. Nothing Good Happens After Midnight."},"content":{"rendered":"

You know how your parents, trying to defend what seemed at the time an unreasonable curfew, used to say nothing good happens after midnight? Turns out that\u2019s also true of the United States Senate. At approximately 4:17 am Saturday morning, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche<\/a> as Attorney General of the United States by a vote of 50-49, elevating Trump\u2019s former personal criminal defense attorney to lead the Department of Justice. Cool cool cool.<\/p>\n

The final vote breakdown: every Democrat voted no, joined by Susan Collins<\/a> and Lisa Murkowski<\/a>. Both get to point to their no votes as evidence of their moderate independence \u2014 Collins heading into a competitive Maine re-election, Murkowski perpetually performing the same \u201cI have concerns\u201d routine she\u2019s been running since the Kavanaugh hearings \u2014 secure in the knowledge that their votes didn\u2019t actually matter, Blanche got confirmed anyway, and Trump has no grounds to be furious with them. It\u2019s the perfect Republican moderate maneuver: principled enough to generate a headline, consequence-free enough to avoid a Truth Social post. The 50th vote, the one that actually mattered, was Bill Cassidy.<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u2019s vote that put Blanche over the top showed he learned absolutely nothing from watching RFK Jr. break every promise he made to secure his confirmation<\/a> and decided to try again with Blanche. \u201cMr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this,\u201d Cassidy said in his floor speech. \u201cBut the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is, as Bill Barr would recognize<\/a>, the hostage negotiation argument, and it worked.<\/p>\n

So, yeah. The man who spent two months auditioning for this job<\/a> by declaring it the president\u2019s \u201cright and duty\u201d to direct criminal investigations of his enemies, who introduced himself as Trump\u2019s lawyer at his own confirmation hearing<\/a>, who called two senators liars in his written responses<\/a>, who won\u2019t commit to keeping the slush fund dead in any legally binding way<\/a>, and whose former SDNY colleagues wouldn\u2019t vouch for him the second time around<\/a> is now the permanent Attorney General of the United States.<\/p>\n

As for the slush fund that played such a pivotal role in the process, even as the confirmation vote was pending this week, Trump told reporters the fund would have been \u201cvery fair\u201d and could have given \u201csome solace\u201d to January 6 supporters who were prosecuted. \u201cI view that fund as a positive, and a lot of Republicans do too,\u201d the president said. Recall Blanche had to be forced to rescinded in writing the slush fund to get Cornyn and Tillis on board and even Cassidy admitted the fuds troubled him. But it\u2019s still a positive in Trump\u2019s eyes, and we have an Attorney General who hasn\u2019t shown much willingness or ability to stand up to Trump.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Todd Blanche Threading The Narrowest Of Needles For Confirmation<\/a>
The Trump Slush Fund Is Dead. Long Live The Trump Slush Fund.<\/a>
Todd Blanche Loses Susan Collins\u2019s Vote. Blame His Secret Promises To Anti-Abortion Groups.
<\/a>The DOJ Has Betrayed Epstein Survivors \u2014 New Mexico Is Suing Over The Latest Issue
<\/a>Todd Blanche\u2019s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won\u2019t Put His Promises In Writing<\/a>
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump\u2019s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing<\/a><\/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 The Senate Confirmed Todd Blanche At 4 am. Nothing Good Happens After Midnight.<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

You know how your parents, trying to defend what seemed at the time an unreasonable curfew, used to say nothing good happens after midnight? Turns out that\u2019s also true of the United States Senate. At approximately 4:17 am Saturday morning, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche<\/a> as Attorney General of the United States by a vote of 50-49, elevating Trump\u2019s former personal criminal defense attorney to lead the Department of Justice. Cool cool cool.<\/p>\n

The final vote breakdown: every Democrat voted no, joined by Susan Collins<\/a> and Lisa Murkowski<\/a>. Both get to point to their no votes as evidence of their moderate independence \u2014 Collins heading into a competitive Maine re-election, Murkowski perpetually performing the same \u201cI have concerns\u201d routine she\u2019s been running since the Kavanaugh hearings \u2014 secure in the knowledge that their votes didn\u2019t actually matter, Blanche got confirmed anyway, and Trump has no grounds to be furious with them. It\u2019s the perfect Republican moderate maneuver: principled enough to generate a headline, consequence-free enough to avoid a Truth Social post. The 50th vote, the one that actually mattered, was Bill Cassidy.<\/p>\n

Cassidy\u2019s vote that put Blanche over the top showed he learned absolutely nothing from watching RFK Jr. break every promise he made to secure his confirmation<\/a> and decided to try again with Blanche. \u201cMr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this,\u201d Cassidy said in his floor speech. \u201cBut the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is, as Bill Barr would recognize<\/a>, the hostage negotiation argument, and it worked.<\/p>\n

So, yeah. The man who spent two months auditioning for this job<\/a> by declaring it the president\u2019s \u201cright and duty\u201d to direct criminal investigations of his enemies, who introduced himself as Trump\u2019s lawyer at his own confirmation hearing<\/a>, who called two senators liars in his written responses<\/a>, who won\u2019t commit to keeping the slush fund dead in any legally binding way<\/a>, and whose former SDNY colleagues wouldn\u2019t vouch for him the second time around<\/a> is now the permanent Attorney General of the United States.<\/p>\n

As for the slush fund that played such a pivotal role in the process, even as the confirmation vote was pending this week, Trump told reporters the fund would have been \u201cvery fair\u201d and could have given \u201csome solace\u201d to January 6 supporters who were prosecuted. \u201cI view that fund as a positive, and a lot of Republicans do too,\u201d the president said. Recall Blanche had to be forced to rescinded in writing the slush fund to get Cornyn and Tillis on board and even Cassidy admitted the fuds troubled him. But it\u2019s still a positive in Trump\u2019s eyes, and we have an Attorney General who hasn\u2019t shown much willingness or ability to stand up to Trump.<\/p>\n

Earlier:<\/strong> Todd Blanche Threading The Narrowest Of Needles For Confirmation<\/a>
The Trump Slush Fund Is Dead. Long Live The Trump Slush Fund.<\/a>
Todd Blanche Loses Susan Collins\u2019s Vote. Blame His Secret Promises To Anti-Abortion Groups.
<\/a>The DOJ Has Betrayed Epstein Survivors \u2014 New Mexico Is Suing Over The Latest Issue
<\/a>Todd Blanche\u2019s Confirmation Vote Gets Postponed Because He Just Won\u2019t Put His Promises In Writing<\/a>
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump\u2019s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing<\/a><\/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 The Senate Confirmed Todd Blanche At 4 am. Nothing Good Happens After Midnight.<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

You know how your parents, trying to defend what seemed at the time an unreasonable curfew, used to say nothing good happens after midnight? Turns out that\u2019s also true of the United States Senate. At approximately 4:17 am Saturday morning, the Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General of the United States by a vote […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":159974,"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-159998","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\/08\/IMG_5243-1-scaled-e1623338814705-620x568-wJQgrJ.jpg?fit=620%2C568&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159998","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=159998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}