Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Friday he intended to vote to confirm Todd Blanche to be attorney general, ending a weekslong back-and-forth with the White House to win over GOP holdouts.
All eyes were on Cassidy’s Friday morning floor speech after his fellow Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced they would vote against Blanche, citing myriad concerns such as the Epstein files, the so-called “anti-weaponization” fund and questions of his independence.
With Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., still absent after a hospitalization, Senate Republicans could afford to lose only two votes in their ranks if all Democrats vote against Blanche. Had Cassidy not supported Blanche, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., would lack the votes to confirm him before the August recess. Now he can move ahead and hold a final vote on the Senate floor.
In his speech, Cassidy acknowledged what he described as Blanche’s “poor judgment in approving the anti-weaponization slush fund and exempting the president from IRS audits” as well as “episodes of apparent lawfare [with the] DOJ bringing suits against political enemies.” But he said he had “slept on it overnight” and decided it would be better to have a Senate-confirmed attorney general instead of an acting one.
