The United States Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as Attorney General with a vote of 50 in favor and 49 against, held in the early hours of Saturday morning. Blanche, already serving as acting Attorney General, thus received definitive confirmation to lead the Department of Justice. The path to confirmation was opened when Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, the last member of the party still undecided, announced his support on Friday. Cassidy stated in the Senate that the decision concerned Blanche and was not a referendum on President Trump.

The 52-year-old criminal defense attorney spent approximately 15 years in public service as a federal prosecutor before moving to private practice in 2014. In April 2023 Trump selected him as his lead defense attorney in the criminal proceedings against him, including the New York cases, the classified documents case, and the case related to contesting the 2020 election results. For most of his career Blanche was registered as a Democrat, changing his affiliation to Republican after agreeing to defend Trump.

During his tenure as acting Attorney General, Blanche was involved in managing the publication of investigative files on the Jeffrey Epstein case and in the indictment of former FBI director James Comey. He also contributed to the elimination of the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund, a 1.8 billion dollar fund intended for alleged victims of politicized legal proceedings.

Democrats expressed concerns about the risk of politicization of the Department of Justice, citing the prior professional relationship between Blanche and the president. Supporters of the nomination pointed instead to his experience as a federal prosecutor and the expertise he developed in criminal defense. Among Blanche's debated positions is his stance on presidential pardons: speaking about those convicted for the January 6, 2021 Capitol assault, he argued that the Constitution grants the president full power to pardon anyone for any reason.