{"id":32099,"date":"2026-08-08T08:35:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32099"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:35:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T03:35:33","slug":"susan-collins-opposes-todd-blanche-for-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=32099","title":{"rendered":"Susan Collins opposes Todd Blanche for attorney general"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/ox5U_g57tX41n5c-wGZkp2KXcV4=\/0x0:3096x1742\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/04\/1785878289793.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Tuesday she will vote against Todd Blanche&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/03\/trump-anti-weaponization-fund-blanche\" target=\"_blank\">nomination for attorney general<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters:<\/strong> Collins&#8217; vote won&#8217;t sink <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/01\/blanche-tillis-trump-anti-weaponization-fund\" target=\"_blank\">Blanche&#8217;s nomination on its own<\/a>. But it makes every remaining undecided Republican that much more important.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>With Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) still absent from the Senate, Blanche, who is serving in an acting capacity, can afford to lose only two GOP votes, assuming all Democrats oppose him.<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;While I believe Mr. Blanche is a capable lawyer, the Department of Justice has become increasingly political,&#8221; Collins said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenatorCollins\/status\/2084757125746594298\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>. <\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department&#8217;s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom in:<\/strong> Blanche appeared to have cleared his biggest hurdle Tuesday morning when the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced his nomination.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) dropped their opposition after reaching a written agreement with Blanche that President Trump&#8217;s proposed $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund would be terminated.<\/li>\n<li>They also say Blanche agreed to narrow the scope of the IRS settlement&#8217;s audit protections for Trump.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Sen. John Curtis<\/strong> (R-Utah), who had previously indicated he had concerns about voting for Blanche, said Tuesday that he would also support him.<br \/>\n&#8220;I&#8217;ve been pleased with his receptivity and understanding of the issues raised by my colleagues and me,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenJohnCurtis\/status\/2084670465792946642\" target=\"_blank\">Curtis said<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That leaves two known unknowns among Republicans: Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). Neither has said how they will vote. <\/li>\n<li>Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who sometimes supports Trump&#8217;s nominees, said in early June, &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe that&#8217;s someone that I could support.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Zoom out:<\/strong> Collins is the only Republican senator seeking reelection in a state that President Trump lost.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The chair of the Appropriations Committee is running for a sixth term by emphasizing her ability to deliver for Maine. She now faces former Maine Senate President Troy Jackson after Democrats&#8217; original nominee, Graham Platner, withdrew following allegations of sexual assault.<\/li>\n<li>During Trump&#8217;s second term, Collins has broken with the president on several high-profile occasions. She was one of three Republicans to vote against his signature legislative package, the One Big Beautiful Bill.<\/li>\n<li>She also opposed a spending rescissions package and Pete Hegseth&#8217;s nomination as secretary of defense. But she supported Robert F. Kennedy Jr.&#8217;s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Tuesday she will vote against Todd Blanche&#8217;s nomination for attorney general. Why it matters: Collins&#8217; vote won&#8217;t sink Blanche&#8217;s nomination on its own. But it makes every remaining undecided Republican that much more important. With Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) still absent from the Senate, Blanche, who is serving in an&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/ox5U_g57tX41n5c-wGZkp2KXcV4=\/0x0:3096x1742\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/04\/1785878289793.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}