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Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who is facing a tough reelection in a state carried by Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024, announced on Tuesday that she will vote “no” on Todd Blanche’s nomination to serve as attorney general.
Collins’s plan to oppose Blanche means he can afford only one more Senate Republican defection and still get confirmed to lead the Justice Department on a longer-term basis, if all members of the Democratic caucus also vote “no.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has an effective majority of 52 seats because Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is still absent from work because of a serious health issue.
Collins called Blanche “a capable lawyer,” but she said the Department of Justice (DOJ) under his leadership has “become increasingly political.”
She cited several actions that she believe have “further eroded the department’s independence” as “the basis for my vote to oppose his confirmation.”
Collins noted that Blanche approved an order to shield Trump, his sons and the Trump family business from Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits, protections she said are “unavailable to other American taxpayers.”
She cited his role in approving the nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund to compensate Trump’s MAGA allies who said they were unfairly prosecuted by the Biden-era Justice Department.
Collins raised concern about Blanche’s pledge to an anti-abortion organization that he would seek to prohibit the mailing of abortion medication to women nationwide.
And she pointed to federal prosecutors’ efforts under Blanche’s leadership to indict Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.) over a video they recorded urging U.S. service members to resist unlawful orders.
Collins called her Democratic colleagues’ statements “ill-advised but constitutionally protected.”
“More than 1,200 former Department of Justice employees have opposed his nomination, arguing that he has undermined the institution. For these reasons, I will vote against this nomination,” Collins said in her statement.
Two other key Republican senators remain undecided on Blanche’s nomination: Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.).
Murkowski said on Tuesday that she wants to have additional conversations with Blanche.
She appreciated Blanche’s trip last month to remote communities in rural Alaska to understand the law-enforcement challenges tribal leaders face in isolated areas.
But Murkowski was an outspoken critic of Trump’s settlement with the DOJ and IRS and, like Collins, supports abortion rights.
Cassidy has raised concerns about Blanche’s independence from Trump and has questioned a criminal investigation of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who gave testimony in 2022 to a special House Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I have to make sure that is the attorney general who used to be the president’s personal attorney, not the personal attorney who’s also the attorney general. I am concerned about the lawfare going after people. Cassidy Hutchinson, for example, a grand jury — I’m told — is being empaneled going after her. Why? Tell me that again, why?” Cassidy said last week.
Two other potential swing votes in the Senate GOP conference, Sens. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Jon Husted (R-Ohio), announced Tuesday that they will vote for Blanche.
“After having robust discussions with Todd Blanche and following his nomination process in the Judiciary Committee, I will support his confirmation,” Curtis said in a statement.
“I’ve been pleased with his receptivity and understanding of the issues raised by my colleagues and me, including the anti-weaponization fund and a number of Utah-specific priorities,” he said.
Husted said the agreement Blanche struck with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) to rescind an order establishing the anti-weaponization fund “has eased a lot of concerns.”
“And so I think it does clear a path for his confirmation before the end of the week. But we have lots of other confirmations over on block confirmations, including the CDC director and others that we’re also trying to get done to make sure President Trump has the team that he needs to govern and run America,” he said.
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