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President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Todd Blanche was set for confirmation Friday as US attorney general after Senate Republicans shrugged off Democratic concerns over politicization of the Justice Department.
Blanche — who has already been serving as the top US law enforcement officer in an acting capacity — represented Trump as his private attorney in several criminal trials before entering government.
But with Republicans holding only narrow control of the Senate, he faced the potential embarrassment of failing to secure formal confirmation.
Two senators from Trump’s party said they would not support Blanche, leaving his fate in question until a third holdout, Senator Bill Cassidy, went on live television Friday to announce he was a “yes.”
That should allow Blanche’s confirmation by the slenderest of margins, with all Democrats expected to vote “no.”
Trump, who has upended US political norms by seeking to bring nominally independent government agencies under his increasingly direct control, calls Blanche a “star.”
Democrats opposed Blanche from the beginning, accusing Trump of turning the Department of Justice into a political weapon.
“The attorney general is supposed to be the people’s lawyer,” Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Tuesday. “Mr Blanche continues to operate as the president’s personal lawyer, treating the Justice Department like a law firm serving one client — the president.”