Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was confirmed Saturday to lead the U.S. Department of Justice, the news coming after Republican lawmakers struggled to make a decision.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) announced at the last minute on Friday that he would support Blanche’s confirmation, Fox News reported Saturday.
During his announcement, Cassidy said the process was about Blanche, the difficulty of his job, and “how the American people can be best served.”
Cassidy’s support placed Blanche in the position to be confirmed.
In a social media post early Saturday, Blanche wrote, “I am deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me to lead the Department of Justice as our great nation’s 88th Attorney General. I am grateful to the Senate for staying late to complete this process.”
“To the dedicated public servants of the Department of Justice, thank you for your work each day to uphold the law and keep our country safe. God bless America,” he concluded:
The Fox article stated, “Blanche, who is Trump’s former personal lawyer, nearly saw his confirmation hopes go up in smoke as Republicans struggled to swallow his role in rolling out the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization and sweeping IRS audit immunity for the president and his family.”
Breitbart News has reported on the anti-weaponization fund, noting in June that a federal judge extended a block on the fund meant for citizens who claimed former President Joe Biden’s (D) administration targeted them:
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema made the extension on Friday, Just the News reported.
“Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress earlier this month that the Trump administration was ending plans for the fund due to bipartisan backlash,” the outlet said. “Attorneys for the federal government argued that, in the face of the administration’s decision to terminate the plans, the lawsuits against it are moot,” noting Brinkema argued the mootness point did not “go anywhere.”
The judge had previously agreed to temporarily block payments regarding the fund, according to the Hill, while Just the News explained “The $1.776 billion fund was part of a settlement to end Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns by contractor Charles Littlejohn, who pleaded guilty.”
Blanche announced Sunday he formally rescinded the anti-weaponization fund, days before lawmakers voted on his nomination, according to UPI.
Per the Fox article, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) Susan Collins (R-ME), and all Senate Democrats opposed his confirmation.
Breitbart News reported July 29 that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) postponed a committee vote on Blanche’s nomination after two Republican senators withheld support pending written assurances from the DOJ on the anti-weaponization fund.
Prior to Blanche’s confirmation, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote, “President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year after withstanding the dirtiest trick in American political history,” adding, “Partisan Democrats, who failed in their sensationalized impeachments and politicized investigations, resorted to the legal system to stop him. They filed a mountain of charges in courthouses around the country. They forced the president to spend days away from the campaign trail, appearing in and out of court. They censored what he could say, and they even raided his home.”
Jordan highlighted the fact that Blanche remained beside Trump through all of it while “fighting for fundamental fairness and the rule of law.”
He then said Blanche earned the president’s trust and his confirmation should be swift, adding, “Blanche has the experience, the expertise, and the character we need leading the Department of Justice (DOJ) right now.”
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