The United States Senate confirmed this Saturday Todd Blanche, former personal lawyer of President Donald Trump, as the country’s new attorney general.
Blanche has been confirmed to lead the Department of Justice by a narrow margin of 50 votes in favor and 49 against, after overcoming reluctance that arose within Republican ranks.
Two Republican senators vote against
Two Republican senators, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, have joined the Democratic opposition to vote against his nomination, considering him responsible for the politicization of the Department of Justice.
The new attorney general has been confirmed after leading the US delegation this Friday in Colombia that participated in the investiture ceremony of Abelardo De la Espriella as the new Colombian president.
Blanche, nominated by Trump, had been acting as the country’s attorney general since last April, when the president dismissed Pam Bondi for her handling of the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The controversial fund to compensate for “judicial persecution” during the Biden Administration
In May, Blanche announced the creation of a fund of about $1.8 billion to compensate people who, according to the Trump Administration, were the subject of unfair judicial persecution during the Joe Biden Administration (2021-2025), including the protagonists of the 2021 assault on the Capitol.
This fund, which was suspended in court, arose as part of an agreement with Trump for the lawsuit that the president’s family had filed against the Government for the disclosure of his tax returns and was criticized even by Republican Party legislators.
Blanche had to formally annul the fund on August 3 to unblock her confirmation in the Senate, given that Republicans John Cornyn and Thom Tillis blocked her nomination.
The lawyer who led Trump’s defense over payments to Stormy Daniels
Born in Denver, Colorado, in 1974, Blanche had a career as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and later as a defense attorney in high-profile cases.
He was the current president’s personal lawyer and led his defense in the New York trial for irregular payments to silence porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election campaign.
He also served on Trump’s legal team in federal cases over the handling of classified documents and attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 election.
Under his interim mandate, the Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against former FBI Director James Comey, who clashed with Trump, and opened investigations linked to unfounded allegations of electoral fraud in 2020, for which Democrats accuse him of undermining the independence of the Department of Justice.
