Todd Blanche’s path to becoming attorney general just got a lot more difficult.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska Republican who has occasionally broken with Donald Trump on major issues, announced Friday that she will vote against Blanche’s confirmation.
That leaves the nomination potentially hanging by a single Republican vote.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana has refused to say how he will vote, and with Democrats opposed, the Senate’s razor-thin margin leaves Blanche with almost no room for error.
Republicans hold 53 seats in the Senate. Sen. Mitch McConnell is absent due to illness, while Sen. Susan Collins has also said she will vote against Blanche.
If all Democrats vote no, just one more Republican defection would be enough to kill the nomination.
Murkowski made clear that her opposition isn’t simply about Blanche’s résumé. She says she doesn’t trust him to stand up to Trump when the president crosses the line.
“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Murkowski said. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”
That’s a serious problem for Blanche because Murkowski’s concerns come directly from his record as acting attorney general.
Since taking over the Justice Department in April, Blanche has overseen several politically explosive cases and decisions involving Trump and his political opponents.
Murkowski specifically cited the administration’s handling of the Epstein files, what she described as sweeping immunity protections for Trump, his family and their businesses, statements made to anti-abortion groups, and what she called repeated targeting of political opponents and even sitting senators.
“The politicization — even weaponization — of the Department did not start with this administration but has accelerated during it,” Murkowski said.
She also warned that Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” could come roaring back if Blanche is confirmed.
Blanche has insisted the fund will not move forward. Murkowski isn’t buying it.
She said the proposal is “only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage.”
Blanche met with Murkowski and Cassidy separately for about an hour Wednesday in a Senate basement. Neither senator revealed what they were thinking at the time.
Now Murkowski has made her position crystal clear.
The spotlight therefore shifts to Cassidy.
Cassidy is hardly a stranger to breaking with Trump when the stakes get high. He was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in 2021 after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. Murkowski was another.
But Cassidy has also supported Trump on major issues during his second term, including voting to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary despite his concerns about Kennedy’s views on vaccines.
Trump, meanwhile, backed a Republican challenger against Cassidy in Louisiana’s primary this year. Cassidy lost, meaning he will soon be leaving the Senate.
That makes his Blanche vote particularly interesting.
The two men have already clashed publicly.
During a Senate lunch in June, Cassidy and Trump got into a heated argument over the war with Iran. Eventually his colleagues told him to sit down and he tried to de-escalate.
Now Cassidy may hold the deciding vote on whether Trump’s choice to lead the Justice Department gets confirmed.
And with Murkowski and Collins already opposed, Blanche’s confirmation suddenly looks anything but guaranteed.
