Bill Cassidy backs Todd Blanche’s AG nomination, likely paving way for confirmation

WASHINGTON, DC: Sen Bill Cassidy, R-La, announced Friday, Aug 7, that he will vote for President Donald Trump’s pick, Todd Blanche, for attorney general, likely assuring his confirmation.

The White House later celebrated Cassidy's announcement that he would vote in favor of Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general, a vote necessary for Blanche to earn confirmation.

Bill Cassidy’s support comes at a rare moment

“All considered, I will vote for Mr Blanche. I’ll be criticized for this vote. What’s new?” Cassidy said in a floor speech after outlining concerns he said he weighed.

Cassidy’s decision is likely to be decisive in helping Blanche get confirmed to the powerful job.

While he’s “concerned about episodes of apparent lawfare,” Cassidy said, “even critics admit that Mr Blanche knows the law and is a hands-on administrator.”

White House calls Bill Cassidy's pledge 'great news'

“This is great news, and we look forward to his final confirmation shortly," Lauren Bis, a spokesperson for the White House, said in a statement, adding that 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," Bis added.

Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins break the other way

Cassidy threw his support behind Blanche just as Sen Lisa Murkowski from Alaska publicly said she'd vote no. That put her alongside Sen Susan Collins of Maine, another centrist Republican siding against the nomination.

With Mitch McConnell still out, recovering from a fall and expected to miss the vote, a third GOP defection could have tanked the nomination entirely.

Murkowski explained her decision. She said she’d met with Blanche several times, found the conversations productive, but just didn’t trust him to really check the administration’s power.

She warned about what she sees as growing problems inside the Justice Department, specifically, what she called “politicization” and “weaponization.”

The department’s handling of files tied to Jeffrey Epstein bothered her, too. On top of all that, she’s not buying the proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, calling it a “slush fund” and saying she doubts it’ll actually be kept off the table.

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

Blanche has run into trouble getting confirmed. Senators John Cornyn from Texas and Thom Tillis from North Carolina, both Republicans, refused to back him earlier because they questioned how he’s been running the Justice Department.

Their main issue centered on a fund meant to compensate people who claim they were targeted by politically motivated prosecutions. Cornyn and Tillis raised doubts about how that fund was handled.