Todd Blanche begins tenure as attorney general after surviving Senate fallout

The Justice Department’s new top official took his oath at the White House days after lawmakers narrowly voted to confirm him amid bipartisan scrutiny on his leadership at the agency so far.WASHINGTON (CN) — Todd Blanche officially assumed his position as U.S. attorney general Monday, taking his oath of office at the White House in a ceremony that came days after his nomination to lead the Justice Department nearly collapsed in the Senate.But scrutiny on Blanche, a former federal prosecutor and personal lawyer to President Donald Trump who faced bipartisan criticism throughout his confirmation process, is sure to continue as he formally takes the reins of a Justice Department critics say has increasingly acted in the interests of the president himself.Administering Blanche’s oath of office, held in a brief ceremony without members of the media present, was U.S. Circuit Judge Emil Bove, a former Trump attorney and Justice Department official whose own nomination to the federal bench was a controversial affair.For Blanche, assuming formal control of the Justice Department will be a logistically easy transition — he’s served as acting attorney general since the agency’s former top official Pam Bondi was fired in April. But the new top law enforcement officer’s path to Senate confirmation was a rocky one, and on more than one occasion, his nomination looked on track to fail entirely.Lawmakers late Friday night voted, after a week of uncertainty, to confirm Blanche to the Justice Department on a razor-thin, 50-49 vote. Two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, joined all Democrats in opposing his nomination.Helping Blanche across the finish line was Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who had remained undecided on his vote until late last week, when he announced in a Senate floor speech that he would support the nominee — reasoning that failing to confirm Blanche could open the door for a less-qualified attorney general later on.But Blanche’s critics, even some Republicans, have worried the new attorney general has failed to demonstrate he’d serve as a law enforcement official politically independent of Trump and the White House.Murkowski said last week that she did not have “confidence” Blanche would be an attorney general willing to “check the worst impulses of this administration.” And Collins said the then-acting Justice Department chief had “eroded the department’s independence” at a time when the agency is becoming increasingly political.Blanche found himself in bipartisan hot water this summer over the Justice Department’s so-called “anti-weaponization” fund, a roughly $1.8 billion slush fund which emerged from Trump’s settlement with the Internal Revenue Service over the 2019 leak of his tax returns. The agency positioned the fund as a “systematic” avenue for people who believe the government unfairly targeted them to seek financial restitution.But lawmakers and legal advocates said the weaponization fund could be used to pay out sums of money to people convicted of violent crimes associated with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. And amid intense criticism from congressional Republicans, Blanche announced in June that the fund would not move forward.A verbal commitment from Blanche, however, was not satisfying for some in the GOP, who demanded he issue a written order doing away with the slush fund for good. Republicans also chafed at an addendum to the IRS settlement in which the Justice Department banned any further investigation into the past tax information of Trump, his family or his companies.Blanche and the Justice Department for weeks resisted calls to issue such an order, and the issue reared its head again during the now-attorney general’s nomination hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Key Republican senators on the panel, including Texas Senator John Cornyn and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, were reluctant to cast their crucial votes for Blanche while he punted on the weaponization fund.The Judiciary Committee in July was forced to postpone its panel vote on Blanche amid a political deadlock between Cornyn, Tillis and Blanche that attracted the ire of Trump himself. But the lawmakers eventually talked the nominee into issuing a written statement rescinding the weaponization fund.Blanche ultimately cleared the Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote, with both skeptical senators agreeing to support him. Neither objected to his later confirmation on the Senate floor.As acting attorney general and the Justice Department’s former No. 2 official, Blanche not only drew criticism for his oversight of the weaponization fund but also for his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Former Attorney General Bondi told House lawmakers in a closed-door meeting in May that Blanche had taken the lead on the Justice Department’s efforts to publish its Epstein documents — many of which contained redaction errors that revealed the personal information of some of his victims.Blanche told the Senate Judiciary Committee last month that he took responsibility for mistakes made in the Epstein files release but defended the Justice Department, saying he and his agency took steps to fix errors in what he said were just 1% of documents with redaction issues.The House Oversight Committee, meanwhile, has said it hopes to bring Blanche in to testify about his involvement with the Epstein files.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads