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\n

Senators voted to confirm Todd Blanche for Deputy Attorney General in early 2025, but there\u2019s no guarantee they will now vote to install him as the nation\u2019s chief law enforcement officer.<\/p>\n

Blanche, now serving as acting Attorney General, faces a potentially rocky path through the Senate, with multiple key Republicans not immediately committing to supporting President Donald Trump\u2019s expected nominee to run the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Thursday it was \u201chard to say\u201d if Blanche would have a hard time getting confirmed to succeed Pam Bondi, who was ousted from the position back in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of our members are pretty deferential to who the president wants in some of these key positions,\u201d Thune said, but added, \u201cthis is an environment where nothing’s a safe or sure bet these days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s nominees can lose three Republican votes and still be confirmed by calling in Vice President JD Vance to break a tie.<\/p>\n

But the bigger hurdle could be getting Blanche through the Senate Judiciary Committee, where opposition from one Republican is enough to bottle up a nomination unless the nominee can also get help from Democrats on the panel. It\u2019s not likely Blanche would get that bipartisan support.<\/p>\n

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) is viewed as the critical vote for Blanche to win over on the Judiciary Committee. Tillis has vowed he won’t support Justice Department nominees who he views as sympathetic those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and previously told Blue Light News<\/u><\/a> that the Justice Department\u2019s \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d would be a factor in whether or not an attorney general nominee is able to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

Blanche told House appropriators Tuesday that the Trump administration would not go forward with administering payouts to individuals deemed victims of \u201clawfare\u201d by the federal government. But the attempt to establish such an account has continued to present a political problem for Republicans, with many seeing Blanche as the face of the effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we need to do right now is focus on the [Anti-Weaponization] Fund, or he’s not going to have a very good time in Judiciary Committee,\u201d Tillis, will retire after the end of this year, told reporters when asked about Blanche\u2019s forthcoming nomination. \u201cJust think about what the Democrats would do to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, another Senate Judiciary Republican, said of Blanche\u2019s chances, \u201cI think it depends on his answers to questions that I intend to ask him at the Judiciary Committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe attorney general is not the president’s private lawyer, so it’s sort of by its nature, it’s a really hard job to do, but I want to make sure he understands the difference and is committed to making sure that the law is enforced,\u201d Cornyn said.<\/p>\n

Cornyn, like Tillis, has little left to lose by breaking with the president: He won\u2019t be standing for reelection this fall after losing his primary late last month.<\/p>\n

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), who also sits on the Senate Judiciary, said \u201cI really don\u2019t know\u201d when asked if he thought Blanche could get through committee or be confirmed by the full Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m keeping an open mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senators voted to confirm Todd Blanche for Deputy Attorney General in early 2025, but there\u2019s no guarantee they will now vote to install him as the nation\u2019s chief law enforcement officer. Blanche, now serving as acting Attorney General, faces a potentially rocky path through the Senate, with multiple key Republicans not immediately committing to supporting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23644\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}