Todd Blanche confirmed as US attorney general in razor-thin Senate vote

The man who once defended Donald Trump in a Manhattan courtroom now runs the entire US Department of Justice. The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general on August 8, 2026, in a 50-49 vote that perfectly captured the partisan fault lines of his nomination. Blanche had already been functioning as acting attorney general since April 2, following the dismissal of Pam Bondi. His formal confirmation converts a temporary arrangement into something far more permanent, and far more consequential for the DOJ’s direction. From defense table to the AG’s office Blanche’s path to the top of the Justice Department is, by any historical measure, unusual. He represented Trump personally in several of the most politically charged criminal cases in modern American history. That list includes the New York hush-money trial, the federal classified documents case, and proceedings related to election obstruction. Before his stint as a high-profile defense attorney, Blanche built his legal career on the other side of the courtroom. He served as a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, one of the most prestigious federal prosecutorial offices in the country, where he initially focused o...