Senate Republicans Confirm Trump's Personal Lawyer for Attorney General

President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer is now the nation’s top law-enforcement official. Todd Blanche was confirmed Saturday as attorney general in a razor-thin 50-49 Senate vote, putting a former member of Trump’s personal legal team at the helm of the Justice Department. The vote was highly controversial, with two Republicans joining all of the Democratic Senators in voting against the confirmation. Before joining the administration, he was Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney, representing the president in some of his most consequential legal battles. Blanche represented Trump during his 2024 New York criminal trial, where a jury found Trump guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records. He joined the Trump administration as deputy attorney general before becoming acting attorney general on April 2, 2026, following Trump's removal of Attorney General Pam Bondi. The confirmation also followed controversy surrounding a proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and provisions involving tax protections for Trump and members of his family. Blanche agreed to changes to portions of the proposal in an effort to secure Republican support.