US Senate confirms Trump's former lawyer as attorney general

The U.S. Senate has narrowly confirmed US President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, as Trump’s attorney general, concluding one of the most contentious Cabinet confirmation battles of Trump’s second term.

Blanche was confirmed in a 50-49 vote on August 8, with Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting against his nomination. Senator Bill Cassidy provided the decisive vote after saying he believed Blanche was the strongest candidate Trump would put forward, Reuters reports.

The confirmation followed weeks of tensions between Senate Republicans and the Trump administration over Blanche, who had served as acting attorney general since April and previously held the position of the Justice Department’s second-ranking official.

Some Republican senators had questioned Blanche’s handling of the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, as well as his involvement in establishing Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and a related tax-immunity agreement involving Trump and his sons.

Blanche ultimately secured enough support after a series of meetings with senators and reportedly agreed in writing to narrow the tax-immunity agreement and end payments from the “weaponization” fund.

Critics had described the fund as a vehicle for supporting Trump’s allies, including individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

The tax-immunity agreement, which prevented the Internal Revenue Service from auditing previous tax returns belonging to Trump, his sons and their family business, and the “weaponization” fund both emerged from Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.

Questions remain, though, about whether that commitment is legally binding, and whether Trump, who has said he loves the idea of the fund, could later press Blanche, his former personal attorney, to revive a similar program under another name.

Blanche became Trump’s personal lawyer in 2023 and represented him in several criminal cases at once.

By Sabina Mammadli