What we covered here
• Nominee clears key hurdle: GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy says he will support Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, clearing the way for his narrow confirmation. We’re awaiting word on when the Senate may hold a vote.
• Thin margins: President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department could only afford to lose two Republican votes. Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski previously announced they’ll vote against him. All Democrats are expected to oppose the nomination.
• How we got here: The nominee hit snag after snag on his path to confirmation. Critics have voiced concerns over Blanche’s potential role in using the Justice Department to go after Trump’s adversaries. Cassidy, who lost his bid for a third term after clashing publicly with the president, was among the most prominent GOP skeptics.
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Scroll through the posts below to read more on Blanche’s attorney general nomination.
Here's where things stand as we await word on a potential confirmation vote
It’s still unclear exactly when the Senate could vote to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department, Todd Blanche, but we’ll bring you updates as soon as we learn more.
The acting attorney general cleared a key hurdle this morning when a potential Republican holdout said he’d support Blanche’s nomination.
If you’re catching up Friday evening, here’s what to know:
- Cassidy’s decision: Taking the Senate floor for a closely watched address, GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy announced he will back Blanche’s nomination. The outgoing Louisiana senator, who has publicly clashed with Trump on a range of issues, said Blanche is “not perfect,” but that he believes the acting attorney general will run the department more effectively than a potential alternative. He also said the decision was not a referendum on Trump and that he assessed the nominee on his own merits. Cassidy appeared to grow emotional during the speech, which you can watch in full here.
- Thin margins: Cassidy’s decision was so pivotal because Blanche could only afford to lose two GOP votes, and Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have already announced plans to vote against him. All Democrats are expected to vote against the confirmation.
- White House reaction: Blanche’s virtually assured path to confirmation is “great news,” the White House said in a statement. “Todd Blanche is an American patriot who has played a critical role at the Department of Justice in advocating for sanity, law and order, and policies that keep Americans safe,” a White House spokesperson said.
- How we got here: Trump’s nominee hit snag after snag on his path to confirmation, including the battle over Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, which has been scrapped after it drew fierce criticism from some Republicans, including Cassidy. Critics have focused on Blanche’s potential role in Trump’s efforts to use the Justice Department to go after adversaries.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy said Friday that he will support Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, clearing the way for his narrow confirmation to the high-profile role. Cassidy, who was speaking on the Senate floor, appeared to choke up while announcing the decision.
CNN’s Hannah Rabinowitz, Adam Cancryn, Holmes Lybrand, Kaanita Iyer, Alison Main and Aileen Graef contributed reporting to this post.
Murkowski says she expected Blanche would ultimately get enough support
GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who announced Friday morning that she would not back acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, said she expected that he would ultimately get enough support to be confirmed.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy later announced he would support Blanche, making it all but certain Blanche gets confirmed to lead the Justice Department. A final confirmation vote has not yet been scheduled, but could happen as soon as Friday.
“Did I expect that he probably would? Yeah. Just leave it at that,” said Murkowski.
Asked whether senators, including Cassidy, can trust the promises that the president’s nominees make when they are trying to get confirmed, Murkowski acknowledged that is always a difficult call.
“I think you need to do what I think Senator Cassidy did, what I did, which is try to do as considered a vetting as you possibly can, and then at the end of the day, you make your decision. I know for a fact how much time and thought Bill Cassidy put into this. I have huge respect for him, and ultimately he made a decision that went in a different direction than I did,” she told reporters.
“But I also know what I put into it, and we both have to live with our choices, live with our votes, and trust that we have done the best job that we can, and so that’s as much as you can do.”
White House hails Cassidy clearing path for Blanche as “great news”
The White House on Friday said Todd Blanche’s virtually assured path to getting confirmed as attorney general was “great news.”
“This is great news and we look forward to his final confirmation shortly. Todd Blanche has done an excellent job as acting Attorney General and will continue doing so as Attorney General. Todd Blanche is an American patriot who has played a critical role at the Department of Justice in advocating for sanity, law and order, and policies that keep Americans safe,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said in a statement to CNN.
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy cleared the path for Blanche’s confirmation after confirming Friday morning that he would vote to confirm the acting attorney general during a speech on the Senate floor.
Watch Cassidy's full speech on the Senate floor
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy explained his support for Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general this morning, arguing that his support is not a referendum against President Donald Trump.
Watch Cassidy’s full speech in the clip below:
Cassidy will support Blanche, but also aired concerns over some of his past actions
Sen. Bill Cassidy argued on Friday that his decision to support Todd Blanche for attorney general came down to his conviction that he was well-qualified for the job, but he also aired concerns over some of Blanche’s past actions.
The Louisiana lawmaker criticized Blanche for “poor judgment” in aiding the creation of a controversial “anti-weaponization” fund meant to benefit Trump’s political allies, as well as a settlement that protected Trump from certain IRS audits.
“Mr. Blanche said these were mistakes and he has made efforts to kill the slush fund,” Cassidy said in his Senate floor speech.
“Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this,” Cassidy said. “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.”
Cassidy said he made the decision after several conversations with Blanche, as well as discussions with other Republican lawmakers and Bill Barr, who served as attorney general during Trump’s first term.
He added that he remains worried about the Justice Department’s targeting of Trump’s political enemies.
But he contended that Blanche was well-versed in the law and had the qualifications to run the sprawling Justice Department. He also said he believed Barr when he argued that Blanche — the president’s former personal lawyer — would be uniquely able to push back effectively on Trump.
“He said that any attorney to represent a client well has to have tough conversations and confront a client with difficult truths,” Cassidy said of Barr, even as he conceded that both Barr and Blanche had told him that ultimately, “decisions are made by the president.”
“This is not a referendum on President Trump,’ Cassidy said. “It is a decision regarding Mr. Blanche in very specific circumstances. All considered, I will vote for Mr. Blanche.
Blanche is in Colombia today
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was not at the Justice Department — or in the country — when Sen. Bill Cassidy announced his intention to support Blanche’s nomination.
Blanche is instead in Colombia, leading a US presidential delegation to the inauguration of the country’s new president, Abelardo de la Espriella.
The delegation includes other senior administration officials, including the DEA administrator, a US diplomat and several national security officials.
Cassidy's support for Blanche comes after the senator clashed with Trump
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy’s announcement that he will vote to confirm Acting Attorney Todd Blanche’s nomination came after weeks of him withholding support for one of President Donald Trump’s priorities.
Since Cassidy lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, the outgoing senator has become one of the president’s sharpest critics in the halls of the US Capitol, and he’s clashed with Trump on a range of issues, including what the Louisiana senator has described as the administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department.
Cassidy has also pushed back on the US-Iran war. When Trump visited the Capitol in June, the two unleashed anger at each other in a shouting match in front of dozens of their Senate GOP colleagues.
According to Cassidy, the shouting match came after Trump demanded to know why members of his own party, including the Louisiana senator, voted with Democrats to rebuke the president’s military authority in Iran.
“I stood and said, ‘You have not told the American people what’s going on,’” Cassidy recalled after the meeting.
Hours later, however, after a meeting with Vice President JD Vance, the Louisiana Republican switched his vote on a similar Iran war powers resolution, voting against advancing it and allowing Republicans to effectively walk back their rebuke of the president.
Cassidy was also one of just a few Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial.
CNN’s Sarah Ferris, Manu Raju, Morgan Rimmer, Lauren Fox, Adam Cancryn and Alison Main contributed to this post.
Cassidy appeared to choke up while announcing decision
In announcing he would support Blanche’s nomination, Cassidy appeared to choke up, furrowing his brow and struggling with the final words of his short speech on the Senate floor.
“I’ll be criticized for this vote. What’s new?” Cassidy said.
“But,” Cassidy added in a more somber tone, looking down and clicking his mouth, “people of Lousiana can be assured that I worked hard to understand the issue and to make the right decision.”
Cassidy announces he'll support Blanche's AG nomination, clearing path for confirmation
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy said Friday that he will support Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, clearing the way for his narrow confirmation to the high-profile role.
“I will vote for mr. Blanche,” the senator said in a speech on the Senate floor. “Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche; it is between mM. 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.”
The Louisiana Republican’s decision comes after weeks of scrutiny of Blanche’s actions that had thrown his candidacy into doubt, and will hand a major victory to President Donald Trump and his senior aides.
Blanche could not afford to lose Cassidy’s vote after GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins pledged to vote against him, leaving him unable to lose another vote for his Senate confirmation.
A Trump loyalist who once served as the president’s personal lawyer, Blanche had come under fire over his role in the creation of an “anti-weaponization” fund meant to benefit Trump’s political allies and the unprecedented settlement agreement between Trump and his own administration over an IRS contractor’s leak of the president’s tax information.
Blanche's path to confirmation has hit snag after snag
Blanche’s nomination hit turbulent waters from its launch, including through the protracted death of the $1.776 billion fund designed to pay those who had believe they have been victimized by past Justice Departments.
In the initial step to his nomination, Senate Republican John Cornyn held up the initial vote to move the nomination out of the Judiciary Committee, forcing Blanche to affirm the fund was dead — despite Blanche’s testimony and statements to that effect following immediate criticism of the fund from Republican lawmakers.
The fund was announced as part of a contorted settlement between the IRS and President Donald Trump over his leaked tax information in 2020. Included in the settlement was a memo from Blanche prohibiting the IRS from prosecuting Trump, his businesses and family members.
When Blanche sent lawmakers an order last week declaring the memo was dead, as Cornyn demanded, both Cornyn and Republican Sen. Thoms Tillis announced they would vote in favor of Blanche’s nomination.
Cornyn said in his statement that as part of Blanche’s order, the Justice Department “has acknowledged” the tax immunity is limited to Trump “and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury.”
Cassidy is speaking on the Senate floor now
Sen. Bill Cassidy is speaking on the Senate floor now and is expected to shortly announce his decision on whether to support or oppose Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination.
Cassidy's concerns center around "weaponization" of DOJ, including probe of former WH aide
GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who is announcing how we will vote on Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination, has so far withheld his support over concerns of the administration weaponizing the Justice Department.
“I am very concerned about the weaponization of the Justice Department,” Cassidy told reporters on July 30. He particularly questioned the need for the federal probe into Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who was a star witness in a congressional investigation into the January 6 Capitol attack.
Blanche has spent weeks rallying support in the Senate
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has for weeks been actively courting senators whose support is key to his nomination — Sen. Bill Cassidy included.
Cassidy, who lost his primary election to a Trump-backed opponent, had emphatically raised concerns about what he called the “weaponization of the Justice Department.”
Among his specific concerns is a federal investigation into Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide and key witness in the congressional investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. It is still unclear whether the Justice Department will move for an indictment of the ex-aide.
Blanche also launched a broad effort to win over Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska. The acting attorney general spent two days in the state earlier this month. He then dropped two Biden-era lawsuits about the state’s oil and gas production, settled two outstanding lawsuits in the state and awarded millions of dollars in grants to local law enforcement.
Blanche met with Cassidy and Murkowski earlier this week to address any remaining concerns they had about his nomination.
Still, Murkowski announced early today that she would not vote in Blanche’s favor. That announcement deeply frustrated those in the Justice Department who had dedicated significant amounts of time in the futile effort to earn her support.
Cassidy will soon announce how he'll vote on Blanche’s attorney general nomination
Sen. Bill Cassidy said on X that he will announce his decision on how he will vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination at 10:40 am from Senate floor.
The nomination hinges on Cassidy after Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins came out in opposition.
Blanche's confirmation chances narrow as another Republican says she won't vote for him
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said this morning that she will vote against Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general, narrowing his chances at Senate confirmation for the role.
With Sen. Mitch McConnell absent and all Democrats expected to vote against the confirmation, Blanche cannot afford to lose any more Republican votes. The nomination now hinges on how Sen. Bill Cassidy, one of the most prominent GOP critics of President Donald Trump, will vote.
Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who’s facing a competitive reelection, has already announced she’ll vote against Blanche.
A defection from Cassidy would likely mean that Blanche would not get a confirmation vote before senators leave for August recess Friday.
