Blanche's AG Bid Hangs on One Vote as Two Republicans Defect

Sen. Lisa Murkowski's opposition leaves Todd Blanche's attorney general confirmation resting on a single undecided Republican vote.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Friday she will oppose Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination, joining Susan Collins and leaving the Trump pick no room for further Republican defections in the 53-47 Senate.

"The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration," Murkowski said in a statement. "I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case."

Blanche can afford only one more Republican defection and still win confirmation if all 47 Democrats vote no. Senate Majority Leader John Thune holds an effective 52-seat majority because Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky remains absent while recovering from a fall and pneumonia. That leaves Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who lost his re-election bid to a Trump-endorsed challenger, as the key undecided vote.

A Senate rejection would be a significant blow to Trump's effort to stock his cabinet with loyalists in permanent roles, but it may not change much at the Justice Department immediately. Blanche is expected to keep serving as attorney general in an acting capacity and remains the department's Senate-confirmed No. 2 official, with effectively the same power as the top law enforcer.

Murkowski cited what she called the politicization of the Justice Department, which she said accelerated during the Trump administration, and Blanche's handling of the release of files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. She also voiced skepticism about written assurances Blanche gave Republican holdouts Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina that the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund was dead and Trump's IRS audit protections narrowed.

"Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds," Murkowski said, arguing the concessions exist only because the Senate holds leverage while his nomination is pending.

Collins, who announced her opposition last week, cited Blanche's approval of an order shielding Trump, his sons and the family business from IRS audits — protections she said are "unavailable to other American taxpayers" — along with his role in the anti-weaponization fund, a pledge to an anti-abortion group to restrict mailing of abortion medication, and federal prosecutors' efforts to indict Sens. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan over a video urging service members to resist unlawful orders. More than 1,200 former Justice Department employees have opposed his nomination, she said.

The confirmation fight caps weeks of negotiation between Republicans troubled by the IRS settlement and a president determined to keep its benefits. Cornyn and Tillis dropped their opposition over the weekend after Blanche agreed in writing to rescind the fund, and Sens. John Curtis of Utah and Jon Husted of Ohio announced support Tuesday.

Murkowski, a centrist who voted against repealing the Affordable Care Act in 2017 and to convict Trump of inciting insurrection in his 2021 impeachment trial, faces re-election in 2028 in a state where most voters are unaffiliated. Collins, who voted to confirm Blanche as deputy attorney general last year but opposed Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel, is running for a sixth term in Maine, a state carried by Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.

A rejection would mark the first time the Senate has refused to confirm a Trump cabinet nominee in his second term, handing Democrats a rare institutional victory and complicating the administration's broader push to place loyalists atop federal agencies. It would also leave the anti-weaponization fund and IRS audit protections in legal limbo, since Blanche's written concessions to Cornyn and Tillis were tied to his confirmation.

Senate Republican leaders hope to hold a final vote before the chamber adjourns for August recess in the coming days, though no firm date has been set. If Cassidy joins the opposition, the nomination would fail on a tie vote, leaving Vice President JD Vance to break it — a scenario that would expose the limits of Trump's grip on his own conference and complicate the administration's policy agenda as investors weigh the political fallout.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.