Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speeks during a press conference on the department's efforts to investigate the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, a cartel based in Mexico, at the Department of Justice headquarters on Wednesday. On Saturday, Blanche was confirmed as attorney general by the Senate. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate confirmed Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's former personal defense attorney, as U.S. attorney general early Saturday morning.
Two Republicans, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against the confirmation. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., missed the vote.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., was a critical vote because he had raised concerns about Blanche. He, along with John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said they were uncomfortable with the politicization of the Department of Justice, as well as the controversial settlement between the president and the IRS in which Trump was given $1.8 billion fund to compensate people that he believed were victims of political prosecutions.
All three of them voted to confirm Blanche.
