US Sen Bill Cassidy says he will cast decisive vote for Trump’s pick for attorney general

WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared ready to win U.S. Senate approval to take the role permanently after Sen. Bill Cassidy said Friday he would vote for the confirmation.

Cassidy, who has long clashed with Trump, said in a floor speech his vote was not a reflection of that relationship, but about the importance of having a Senate-confirmed attorney general who had the backing of U.S. attorneys in Louisiana and former Attorney General Bill Barr.

“Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche,” he said. “It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump… All considered, I will vote for Mr. Blanche.”

Cassidy held the determinative vote on Blanche following Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s announcement earlier Friday she would oppose his confirmation. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, another key Republican vote, said earlier this week she would vote against confirmation. 

Kentucky’s Mitch McConnell has been absent from the chamber for nearly two months, recovering from a health issue.

No Democrats are expected to support Blanche, who was Trump’s personal defense attorney before joining the government at the start of Trump’s second term.

‘History’ with Trump

In a brief speech Friday, Cassidy alluded to his strained relationship with Trump. He voted to convict in Trump’s second impeachment trial that covered Trump’s conduct leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Cassidy lost his primary race to a Trump-backed challenger this year.

“I have a history with Mr. Trump,” he said. “But that history does not matter one bit.”

In her social media post, Murkowski — another Republican at whom Trump has leveled strong criticism, including as recently as a podcast interview published early Friday morning — said the country needed an attorney general able to “check the worst impulses of this administration,” and that she lacked confidence in Blanche to do that.

Cassidy seemed to hold a similar objective, but reached a different conclusion about Blanche’s ability.

Trump is often unwilling to take advice, Cassidy said, but a competent, Senate-confirmed attorney general with whom Trump has a close relationship might be better equipped than whoever else Trump would choose to run the department.

Cassidy said that in a recent conversation with Barr, who had his own clashes with the president during and after his time as attorney general in Trump’s first term, the former attorney general endorsed Blanche as someone who could “run the department as effectively as anyone can under President Trump.” 

“Some have called that faint praise,” Cassidy said. “I don't think that it is. I think it is a reality.”

Trump has expanded presidential decision-making at the Department of Justice, which, at least since the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, has been viewed as operating independently from the White House.

Ultimately, the attorney general answers to the president, Cassidy said.

‘Slush fund’ concerns

Cassidy criticized Blanche’s role in creating a fund for “victims of lawfare,” including those convicted of Jan. 6-related charges, and in approving a settlement with the IRS that gave Trump and his family broad immunity from tax prosecution.

“Mr. Blanche showed poor judgment in approving the anti-weaponization slush fund and exempting the president from IRS audits,” Cassidy said.

Blanche acknowledged those “mistakes” and “made efforts to kill the slush fund,” Cassidy said.

Blanche wrote a memo this week that said the fund would not move forward and that the IRS agreement only applied retroactively, not to future prosecutions. That move was enough to win over Republican holdouts on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas.

Murkowski on Friday raised doubts that the fund would be dissolved if the Senate voted to confirm Blanche and loses leverage with the administration, but again, Cassidy appeared to reach a different conclusion.

Confirmation bestows legitimacy 

Cassidy noted that Blanche did not need Senate approval, and that he could continue doing the job in an acting capacity.

But a major factor in voting to confirm Blanche was that people within the department viewed Senate confirmation as crucial to an attorney general’s influence.

“I am told that Senate confirmation is important in interactions with the president, with others in the Cabinet and is important to DOJ employees in general,” Cassidy said. “Being Senate-confirmed gives him greater leverage to push for things that should be pushed for.”

Cassidy also said he spoke to Louisiana U.S. Attorneys David Courcelle and Kurt Wall, who told him having a Senate-confirmed attorney general was important and that Blanche was more than capable. 

They praised Blanche for quickly providing resources when they asked, Cassidy said.

“I cannot overstate Mr. Walls’ and Mr. Courcelle’s support for Mr. Blanche,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has listed a confirmation vote on Blanche as among the chamber’s priorities before senators leave for a five-week recess, scheduled to begin Friday evening, but has not scheduled a final vote.