<p>The Senate voted to confirm <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/31/trump-blanche-doj-anti-weaponization-fund-dead" target="_blank">Todd Blanche</a> as the next attorney general early Saturday, capping<strong> </strong>a <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/30/todd-blanche-nomination-issues-trump" target="_blank">tumultuous path</a> to office for President <a href="https://www.axios.com/politics-policy/donald-trump" target="_blank">Trump's</a> former personal attorney.</p><p><strong>The big picture: </strong>Blanche's appointment is a win for the Trump administration, especially after a journey that saw some Republicans hold out at multiple stages of the process.</p><ul><li>At one point Trump <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/30/trump-blanche-nomination-tillis-cornyn" target="_blank">threatened to keep him as acting attorney general</a> for months, after two GOP senators withheld their votes to advance him from the Senate Judiciary Committee. </li><li>Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/01/blanche-tillis-trump-anti-weaponization-fund" target="_blank">Thom Tillis</a> (R-N.C.) both eventually supported Blanche's advancement after Blanche <a href="https://x.com/DAGToddBlanche/status/2084114427813437897/" target="_blank">confirmed</a> that a controversial <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/13/judge-trump-irs-settlement-anti-weaponization-fund" target="_blank">$1.776 billion fund</a> to pay out perceived victims of political weaponization was dead.</li></ul><p><strong>Driving the news:</strong> The pre-dawn vote was split 50-49, mostly along party lines. </p><ul><li>Every Democratic member present voted against the Trump nominee, joined by GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine). Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was not present amid a lengthy health-related absence.</li><li>Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) was broadly seen as Democrats' best shot at blocking Blanche's nomination, but he announced Friday that <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/07/cassidy-blanche-attorney-general" target="_blank">he'd vote in favor </a>of the president's former personal attorney.</li><li>Blanche has been serving in the role in an acting capacity since this spring.</li></ul><p><strong>State of play:</strong> Blanche will now formally take over the post held by Pam Bondi before she was pushed out. </p><ul><li>With Blanche as acting attorney general, the DOJ has continued its unconventionally close alignment with the White House, renewing <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/03/trump-anti-weaponization-fund-blanche" target="_blank">attempts to prosecute</a> individuals in line with the president's <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/31/reflecting-pool-olympian-indicted-trump" target="_blank">wishes</a>.</li></ul><p><strong>Friction point: </strong>While Blanche won over Republican defectors on the controversial fund, he's continued to face sharp criticism from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein — stemming from <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/30/todd-blanche-nomination-issues-trump" target="_blank">another controversy</a> that threatened to derail his nomination.</p><ul><li>Tillis had given Blanche another mandate to earn his vote: meeting with Epstein victims. Blanche did so, but multiple survivors <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/07/17/epstein-survivors-blanche-meeting-reaction" target="_blank">publicly panned</a> the meeting as demoralizing and unproductive.</li></ul><p><strong>The bottom line: </strong>Not much changes with "acting" dropped from Blanche's title. But his confirmation represents the official start of an <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/11/09/doj-blanche-war-activist-judges-dc-bar-associations" target="_blank">aggressive new era</a> for the DOJ.</p><p><strong>Go deeper: </strong><a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/08/03/trump-anti-weaponization-fund-blanche" target="_blank">Blanche poised for confirmation vote after he kills Trump's fund</a></p>