{"id":33604,"date":"2026-08-09T01:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33604"},"modified":"2026-08-09T01:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:15:07","slug":"democrats-slam-blanche-after-attorney-general-confirmation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=33604","title":{"rendered":"Democrats slam Blanche after Attorney General confirmation"},"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:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Leading-Blanche_071626_AP_Mariam-Zuhaib.jpg?w=900\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\n        <iframe id=\"instaread_iframe\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Audio Article\" style=\"display:block\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\"><\/iframe>\n    <\/p>\n<p><\/instaread-player><\/p>\n<p>All Democrats in the U.S. Senate voted against the nomination of Attorney General Todd Blanche, but their opposition was overridden by a majority of GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber in the <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/6017820-senate-todd-blanche-attorney-general-nomination\/\">early hours of Saturday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Many of these Democrats cited Blanche\u2019s record over the past year as deputy and acting attorney general, pointing to his oversight on a now-defunct nearly $1.8 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund, the rollout of the Justice Department\u2019s (DOJ) files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his stance against abortion.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr1_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Blanche\u2019s confirmation to lead the DOJ in a permanent role green lights Trump\u2019s \u201cpervasive, breathtaking corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you want to wipe out corruption, you can\u2019t have the president\u2019s personal attorney as the Attorney General,\u201d Schumer wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenSchumer\/status\/2086012998502469713\">social media post<\/a> after the vote. \u201cYou don\u2019t need a PhD in political science to know that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTodd Blanche has no intention of stopping Trump\u2019s corruption,\u201d the Democratic leader continued. \u201cHe advanced his career enabling it. Every senator who voted to confirm him has now branded themselves as an enabler, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) also brought up Blanche\u2019s background as the president\u2019s former personal attorney.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTodd Blanche has and always will be Trump\u2019s personal lawyer \u2014 not the American people\u2019s lawyer,\u201d Padilla wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenAlexPadilla\/status\/2086088894081056910\">social media post<\/a>. \u201cI voted NO on his confirmation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said Blanche\u2019s \u201cloyalties lie \u2026 not with the law or the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr2_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s with protecting Trump\u2019s allies and enabling unprecedented corruption at DOJ,\u201d he continued in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ChrisCoons\/status\/2086118098986233878\">statement<\/a> shared on social media after the vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen (Nev.) accused Blanche of a \u201ccomplete and total mishandling of the Epstein files,\u201d in addition to his stance against abortion and history as Trump\u2019s personal attorney.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American people deserve an Attorney General whose first loyalty is to the Constitution, not the President, and I\u2019m going to do everything I can to hold him accountable,\u201d she wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenJackyRosen\/status\/2086095355804778718\">social media post<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr3_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>A group of survivors of Epstein\u2019s crimes <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/5967362-epstein-survivors-urge-senate-reject-blanche\/\">urged the Senate<\/a> to vote against Blanche\u2019s nomination, citing frustration with how the DOJ handled victim privacy concerns during the release of the Epstein files. Several survivors said the department failed to properly redact sensitive information and put victims at risk during this public rollout.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe survivors of Jeffrey Epstein\u2019s horrific crimes deserve transparency and accountability, not continued efforts to withhold information or shield those in positions of power,\u201d New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luj\u00e1n (D) wrote on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenatorLujan\/status\/2086111128405283128?s=20\">social media<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder Todd Blanche\u2019s leadership, the DOJ will continue putting President Trump\u2019s personal and political interests ahead of justice and accountability for victims. I voted NO,\u201d Luj\u00e1n continued.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr4_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Democrats in the U.S. House, who do not have voting power on executive nominations, also expressed their opposition to Blanche\u2019s appointment to a full-time post at the DOJ.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder the cover of darkness, Republicans confirmed Donald Trump\u2019s personal lawyer to serve as Attorney General,\u201d wrote Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SpeakerPelosi\/status\/2086115659914617084\">social media post<\/a> following the Senate vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe American people deserve a Justice Department that defends the rule of law, not one weaponized to protect the President, reward his allies &amp; shield his corruption,\u201d the Democrat continued.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr5_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform called on their committee chair, GOP Rep. James Comer (Ky.), to \u201cbring Blanche before our committee under oath\u201d to testify about his oversight of the Epstein files rollout. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cTodd Blanche is running the Epstein files cover-up, is personally involved with Ghislaine Maxwell\u2019s cushy treatment, doxxed Epstein survivors, and continues to illegally withhold millions of files,\u201d the lawmakers wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OversightDems\/status\/2086104231648395689\">statement<\/a> shared on social media. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlanche has shown repeatedly that his loyalties are to Donald Trump, and he will continue to enable corruption in the White House,\u201d they continued. <\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr6_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), who are considered more moderate GOP lawmakers in the Senate, were the only Republicans to vote against Blanche\u2019s nomination.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has been absent from Congress since he suffered a fall in June, was not present for this vote.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Collins criticized what she called an \u201cincreasingly political\u201d environment at the DOJ during Blanche\u2019s tenure at the department in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenatorCollins\/status\/2084757125746594298\">statement<\/a> ahead of the vote. The five-term senator is engaged in a high-profile battle in Maine to keep her seat in Congress.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"ad-unit ad-unit--mr7_ab\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cMr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department\u2019s independence, and that is the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation,\u201d Collins wrote on social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\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>All Democrats in the U.S. Senate voted against the nomination of Attorney General Todd Blanche, but their opposition was overridden by a majority of GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber in the early hours of Saturday morning. Many of these Democrats cited Blanche\u2019s record over the past year as deputy and acting attorney general, pointing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/Leading-Blanche_071626_AP_Mariam-Zuhaib.jpg?w=1280","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33604","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\/33604","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=33604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}