News/Commentary

Trump gets his man – Todd Blanche confirmed as AG despite Republican betrayal

August 8, 2026 | | Print Article

The Senate voted early Saturday morning to confirm Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as the permanent replacement for former AG Pam Bondi.

The Senate voted 50-49, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski predictably siding with Democrats yet again.

Blanche’s confirmation survived thanks to a last-minute bout of support from Sen. Bill Cassidy.

“Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this,” Cassidy said in a Senate floor speech delivered Friday. “But 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.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Prior to the vote, Collins, Murkowski, and even Cassidy expressed concern about Blanche’s involvement in an anti-weaponization fund sought by President Donald Trump.

Although the fund was simply designed to compensate those individuals who were politically persecuted by the Biden administration, its mere existence prompted backlash from the left, who accused it of being a “slush fund.”

Collins and Murkowski fell for the rhetoric hook, line, and sinker, even going so far as to use the left’s “slush fund” terminology.

“I am … keenly aware that the [Justice] Department’s nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund … is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage,” Murkowski said in a statement Friday announcing her opposition to Blanche’s confirmation. “Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds.”

By “off the table,” she meant that Blanche had issued an order earlier in the week rescinding the DOJ’s original May order establishing the fund. He announced the rescinding of the order by publishing a signed memo to the social media site X late Sunday evening.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Although the Acting Attorney General has repeatedly advised that the Fund is not moving forward, and the Department has repeatedly represented to district courts that the Fund is not moving forward, today’s Order officially rescinds the May 18, 2026 Order,” the signed memo read.

Blanche issued the new order in part because of Republicans like Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, both of whom had threatened to block his confirmation unless the fund was eliminated, according to Politico.

“We need paper. We need it in writing. We don’t need well wishes or, you know, impressions,” Cornyn previously said, warning that he wouldn’t vote for Blanche unless the acting AG put it on paper that the fund was dead.

With Blanche having now been confirmed, the left is of course losing its mind.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The Senate’s Shameful Acquiescence to Todd Blanche as Attorney General,” reads a headline from The New Yorker, a far-left rag.

“Senate Floor Speeches Rarely Matter. This One Did. And It Was Terrible,” reads a Slate headline from a piece going after Cassidy.

“Senate Republicans have handed Trump an excuse on a silver platter to keep up his pervasive, breathtaking corruption,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer whined on social media after Blanche’s confirmation.

“Todd Blanche has no intention of stopping Trump’s corruption. He advanced his career enabling it. Every senator who voted to confirm him has now branded themselves as an enabler, too,” the aggrieved Democrat added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Democrats have also alleged that Blanche somehow intends to roll back abortion “protections” in blue states.

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles