Who Is Todd Blanche?

My VIP for this week is Todd Blanche, the newly confirmed attorney general. The Senate vote was 50-49 to approve his nomination. His confirmation faced hurdles placed by Republicans. Cami Mondeaux discussed the confirmation and the problems in her article published in the Deseret News. 

Blanche first faced an uphill battle in the Senate Judiciary Committee where Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina threatened to tank his nomination over the Justice Department’s proposed $1.78 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. That program was intended to aid individuals who felt they were unfairly targeted by the federal government, which could have included those charged for their involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Blanche came to agreement with the duo last week to formally terminate the fund, writing in an agreement that it “is rescinded and shall have no force or effect.” The acting attorney general was later advanced out of committee Tuesday morning.

From there, a handful of other Republican senators were faced with the decision on whether to back his nomination….

Utah Sen. John Curtis, who met with Blanche twice to discuss the fund as well as Utah-specific issues, announced on Tuesday he would back his nomination. Later that day, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she would vote against [Blanche].

That left [Sen. Bill] Cassidy [R-La.] and Sen. Lisa Murkowski [R-AK] to decide. With razor-thin margins in the Senate and the prolonged absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell, Blanche could only afford to lose one of them – otherwise his nomination would fail. [Emphasis added.]

Murkowski announced in a statement early Friday that she would vote against Blanche, raising [that] the anti-weaponization fund could be revived at a later date once the negotiations over his position were over. [As usual, RINO Murkowski voted with the Democrats. Alaskan Republicans hope to Primary her in 2028.]

Although Cassidy said Blanche showed “poor judgment” related to the anti-weaponization fund, he noted the acting attorney general has since called that decision a mistake. While there are still concerns about the DOJ being used to weaponize political enemies, Cassidy said “this will be true no matter who the Attorney General is.” [It was already true during the Biden administration when they went after Trump.]

“Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this,” Cassidy said in a highly anticipated floor speech on Friday. “But the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche. It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump, and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.”

With his nomination now approved, the White House is set to formally swear him into the position in the coming days.

Cassidy did some critical thinking about his decision to vote for Blanche. Critical thinking is rare behavior by politicians. America would be much better off if all public servants would use the critical thinking skill. Blanche has performed well as acting attorney general. He is well-qualified for the position.