Aaron Schwartz/Sipa USA via AP Images
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) said he will vote to confirm Todd Blanche for U.S. Attorney General n a dramatic moment on the Senate floor.
“Mr. Blanche is not perfect and he will tell you this,” Cassidy said. “But the choice is not between Mr. Blanche and perfection.”
He added, “I will be criticized… but what’s new.”
The senator, a doctor who infamously questioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment at Health and Human Services Secretary before voting to confirm his appointment to the post, declared earlier this week he was concerned about “lawfare” under Blanche’s leadership at the Justice Department.
Cassidy’s announcement came Friday just hours after Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) posted on X that she would oppose Blanche’s nomination.
Murkowski described Blanche as “decent and capable” but insisted she would not back his bid to become U.S. Attorney General for a number of reasons.
“The politicization—even weaponization—of the Department did not start with this administration but has accelerated during it,” she wrote in her post.
“I take issue with the handling of the release of the Epstein files; the sweeping immunity protections granted to the President, his family, and their businesses; the statements that have been made to anti-abortion groups; and the repeated targeting of individuals ranging from former administration staff to sitting U.S. Senators.
“I am also keenly aware that the Department’s nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund—which likely would have rewarded January 6 protesters—is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage. Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds,” she added.
The nomination of Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, as U.S. Attorney General has sparked a lengthy back and forth between the president and Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), both of whom opposed Blanche while the decision rested at the committee level.
The unusual Republican opposition prompted Trump to repeatedly lash out at the pair.
Cornyn, who lost his re-election bid after Trump backed primary opponent Ken Paxton (R), and Tillis, who is retiring, folded after Blanche pledged to end the president’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund.
Critics said Blanche’s assurances were not a written guarantee of the fund’s demise.
The post JUST IN: Sen. Bill Cassidy Reveals His Decision on Todd Blanche’s bid for U.S. Attorney General in Dramatic Moment from Senate Floor first appeared on Mediaite.
