Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and independent Sen. Angus King voted against President Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general Todd Blanche, who was confirmed early Saturday morning after the Republican majority got behind the controversial nominee.
Blanche, a former Trump attorney who was narrowly approved as deputy attorney general last year, has been serving as acting head of the Justice Department since April, when Trump fired Pam Bondi. After Collins and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said they would oppose Blanche, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said Friday he would back him, clearing the path for the confirmation.
Trump said this past weekend that if the Senate did not confirm Blanche, he would keep him as the acting chief. But Saturday’s 50-49 vote put the spotlight on Trump and Republicans hoping to keep control of Congress in midterm elections as they face a tough environment, with Democrats aiming to link Collins and other battleground lawmakers with Trump’s agenda and sagging approval ratings, and a Justice Department they say exemplifies White House overreach.
Collins, who voted in favor of Blanche for deputy AG last year, previously criticized a proposed $1.8 billion fund for so-called victims of a weaponized government that sparked bipartisan uproar and held up Blanche’s confirmation vote. After holdout Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina said that Blanche had formally killed the fund and would back the nominee, Collins announced her no vote, saying the the Justice Department has “become increasingly political” on Blanche’s watch.
“Mr. Blanche has taken several actions that have further eroded the Department’s independence,” she said.
The senator noted that Blanche sought to ban the mailing of abortion medication, attempted to indict Democratic senators, and drew criticism from 1,200 former Justice Department employees who’ve opposed his nomination, “arguing that he has undermined the institution.”
King said Blanche had “fumbled” the investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein files and forged a “wholly inappropriate blanket deal granting tax immunity to President Trump, his immediate family and private business interests.”
“While Mr. Blanche has aggressively served Donald Trump the private citizen as his personal attorney — along with the Trump sons and the Trump Organization — the DOJ cannot and most emphatically should not function as any president’s personal law firm,” King said.
Collins has faced criticism from her opponent, former state Senate President Troy Jackson, and other Democrats over votes for Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, other anti-abortion federal judges, and almost all of Trump’s Cabinet picks. Jackson and other critics have made her track record of voting consistently with Trump and the GOP a focal point in the race, and they argue she hasn’t broken with her party when it matters most.
Jackson called Collins’ no-vote for Blanche “weak sauce” earlier this week, telling MSNOW it amounted to “[throwing] a bone” while voting “with Trump 96% of the time.”
“Trump endorsed Susan Collins because she always votes with him when he needs it,” Maine Democratic Party spokesperson Misha Linnehan said in a statement.
Collins’ team pointed to Democratic former U.S. House and U.S. Senate candidate Jordan Wood, who recently posted a video on social media urging the senator to vote against Blanche’s confirmation, only to have the state party criticize her after Cassidy said he’d vote for the nominee.
“Senator Collins has clearly stated her position and her reasoning,” Blake Kernen, a campaign spokesperson, said. “The complaints from Troy Jackson and his allies — who actually urged her to take this very position — are predictable and dishonest.”
Collins’ office said that she was unaware of how Cassidy would vote, and that she was the first Republican to come out against Blanche this week, two days before Murkowski and three days before Cassidy. Her team also notes the senator was the first Republican, before Sens. John McCain and Murkowski, to publicly oppose and vote against efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017.
Collins has suggested the Supreme Court justices misled her and other lawmakers on Roe v. Wade before the court overturned it in 2022. She has said she does not regret the Kavanaugh vote and would vote for him again, but also notes she voted for all three liberals on the Supreme Court. Republicans have also noted that Jackson, who was raised Catholic, previously opposed abortion and was a Republican when he first entered politics.
Blanche told faith leaders last week that the Justice Department was working alongside health agencies and the White House “to get permanent solutions so the Dobbs decision becomes permanent in every single state,” the Hill reported.
All Democrats, and the other independent who caucuses with them, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, opposed Blanche.