2026-08-08T08:33:53.355Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/08/politics/senate-todd-blanche-attorney-general
托德·布兰奇曾作为纽约法律界知名人士不惜以职业生涯为代价，阻止唐纳德·特朗普入狱，他已于周六获确认为美国司法部长。
现年52岁的布兰奇将在这位前客户的领导下，正式就任美国最高执法官员。
此次任命的投票结果为50票赞成、49票反对，共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯和丽莎·穆尔科斯基与民主党议员一同投下了反对票。
自特朗普再次入主椭圆形办公室以来，布兰奇一直在按照总统的形象重塑司法部方面发挥了关键作用，他从特朗普的辩护代言人转变为其大规模报复行动的牵头人。
他提出了扩大总统权力和保护范围的法律论点，监督了对资深检察官和长期官员的大规模裁员，并牵头制定了一项法律策略，使得全美各地的法官都开始质疑司法部的决策。
在被任命为代理司法部长仅数月的时间里，司法部就起诉了包括前联邦调查局局长詹姆斯·科米在内的政治人物，发出传票以确认记者的消息来源，设立后又废除了备受争议的反武器化基金，并批准了总统与美国国税局之间的税收豁免协议。
但布兰奇负责司法部日常运营的时间远比这更长，他的提名正式确认了内部已经存在一段时间的现状。CNN此前曾报道，即使在担任副司法部长期间，布兰奇也经常主持会议，包括本该由司法部长主持的会议。
这一核心角色在本届政府最动荡的事件之一——爱泼斯坦文件余波中显得尤为重要。
前司法部长帕姆·邦迪曾因在电视上讨论爱泼斯坦事件时多次表现拙劣，被要求暂停公开露面数周。布兰奇接替了她的工作，据邦迪透露，他独自继续处理了这场危机。
消息人士告诉CNN，布兰奇正式上任后将采取类似策略——提起案件，突出总统所称的司法部“武器化”针对他、其盟友和支持者的案例。
他还将推进政府的其他优先事项，如强硬的移民案件和打击涉及政府项目的欺诈行为。
布兰奇曾担任多年联邦检察官，约十年前转入私人执业。2023年他接下特朗普作为客户时，辞去了纽约顶级律所凯威莱德（Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft）合伙人的职务。
当时特朗普正面临多起刑事诉讼。
据多位知情人士透露，布兰奇当年4月加入特朗普法律团队的决定令身边的人感到意外。他登记为民主党选民，认识他的人表示他从不外露政治倾向。他以工作勤奋、热爱检察官工作而闻名，一些前同事对他接受这一角色并附和客户的言论感到惊讶。就在本周，仍有一些前同事对此感到困惑，试图分析布兰奇的转变。
但这场赌局让他收获颇丰。
布兰奇很快成为特朗普应对三起联邦起诉的首席律师。
特朗普在纽约接受封口费刑事审判时，布兰奇是少数几位坐在其身边提供建议的人之一，当时总统的自由正处于险境。他将特朗普的不满融入法律意见书，并在法官面前采纳了特朗普的论点，有时还因此受到批评。
尽管特朗普被定罪，但布兰奇的法律策略帮助将判刑推迟到选举之后——实际上确保了他不会入狱。
在指控特朗普干预选举的联邦案件中，特朗普的辩护团队在最高法院胜诉，扩大了总统免受刑事起诉的保护范围，就在特朗普赢得连任前不久。布兰奇和他的团队还说服了特朗普任命的佛罗里达州法官，驳回了指控特朗普不当处理机密文件的第二起联邦案件。
当时有传言称，为特朗普辩护可能会让布兰奇在政府中获得职位，布兰奇曾告诉盟友他对政府工作不感兴趣，消息人士当时告诉CNN。
尽管如此，特朗普还是提名布兰奇担任司法部二号人物。当时特朗普在社交媒体上写道，布兰奇将修复“长期以来支离破碎的司法系统”。
上任后，消息人士称布兰奇立刻将目光投向了司法部长职位。消息人士告诉CNN，他的工作让总统很满意，尤其是在特朗普对布兰奇的前任邦迪日益不满的情况下。邦迪被解雇后，布兰奇无缝衔接接任了该职位，甚至在邦迪离职后的第一周就搬进了她的旧办公室。
“这正是他一直在等待的机会，”一名司法部官员在谈到他的确认任命时说道。
布兰奇的确认之路远非一帆风顺。他花了数周时间试图争取对其任命至关重要的参议员的支持，但部分努力徒劳无功。
他争取共和党议员支持的过程在参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基身上体现得最为明显。尽管布兰奇专程前往她的家乡阿拉斯加州待了两天，达成了两项协议和两起诉讼，并拨付了超过600万美元的拨款，穆尔科斯基还是投票反对布兰奇。
“国家需要一位能够制衡本届政府最恶劣倾向的司法部长，”穆尔科斯基在解释其决定时说道。“我希望布兰奇先生在获得确认后能够做到这一点，但我根本不相信他会这样做。”
布兰奇还将重点放在了共和党议员比尔·卡西迪身上，卡西迪对“司法部武器化”表示担忧，其中包括对卡西迪·哈钦森的调查，哈钦森是前白宫助手，也是国会调查1月6日国会山袭击事件的关键证人。
目前尚不清楚司法部是否会对这位前助手提起诉讼。
布兰奇在参议院司法委员会的初步投票甚至被推迟，因为他与共和党参议员约翰·科宁和汤姆·蒂利斯进行了紧张的谈判，两人都对反武器化基金和国税局协议表示担忧。
最终，布兰奇签署了一份终止反武器化基金的备忘录，并发布了第二份未签署的备忘录，澄清了税收豁免协议的条款。
CNN的摩根·里默和卡拉·斯坎内尔对本文亦有贡献
Blanche confirmed as attorney general at a Justice Department shaped to serve Trump
2026-08-08T08:33:53.355Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/08/politics/senate-todd-blanche-attorney-general
Todd Blanche, who risked his career as a prestigious member of New York’s legal establishment to keep Donald Trump out of jail, was confirmed on Saturday as the attorney general.
Blanche, 52, will now permanently act as the nation’s top law enforcement officer under the leadership of his former client.
He was confirmed by a vote of 50 to 49 with GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting with Democrats against the nomination.
Since Trump re-entered the Oval Office, Blanche has been instrumental in reshaping the department in the president’s image, effectively switching from being the face of Trump’s defense to the face of his far-reaching retribution campaign.
He put forth legal arguments that expand the powers and protection around the presidency, oversaw the mass firings of experienced prosecutors and longtime officials, and spearheaded a legal strategy that has made judges across the nation question the department’s decisions.
And in just the few months since he was appointed acting attorney general, the Justice Department has brought indictments against political figures, including former FBI Director James Comey, issued subpoenas seeking to identify journalists’ sources, created — then abandoned — the controversial anti-weaponization fund, and approved a tax immunity deal between the president and the Internal Revenue Service.
But Blanche has been running the day-to-day operations of the department for far longer than that, and his nomination formalized what had already been the case internally for a while. CNN previously reported that even as deputy attorney general, Blanche often led meetings, including those that the attorney general was supposed to oversee.
That central role became especially consequential in one of the administration’s most volatile sagas, the Epstein files aftermath.
At one point, former Attorney General Pam Bondi was sent into a weekslong media lockdown for repeatedly bungling her television appearances discussing the Epstein matter. Blanche took her place, and, according to Bondi, continued to manage the crisis by himself.
Sources have told CNN that Blanche will have a similar strategy once officially confirmed — bringing cases that highlight what the president claims were instances of Justice Department “weaponization” against him, his allies and supporters.
He will also push forward other administration priorities, like hardline immigration cases and a crackdown on fraud involving government programs.
Blanche worked for years as a federal prosecutor before entering private practice about a decade ago. When he took Trump on as client in 2023, he stepped down from the white-shoe New York law firm, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft,where he was a partner.
Trump was facing several criminal cases at the time.
Blanche’s decision in April of that year to join Trump’s legal team surprised those around him, according to multiple people familiar. He was registered to vote as a Democrat and those who know him say he did not wear his politics on his sleeve. Known as a hard-working lawyer who loved being a prosecutor, some of his former colleagues were surprised to see him take on the role and echo the rhetoric of his client. As recently as this week,some former colleagues were still baffled and trying to analyze Blanche’s transformation.
But the gamble paid off handsomely.
Quickly,Blanche became Trump’s go-to attorney to navigate three federal indictments.
Blanche was one of a select few who sat beside and advised Trump during his hush-money criminal trial in New York, when the president’s freedom was at stake. He weaved Trump’s gripes into legal briefs and adopted his arguments before the judge, drawing rebukes at times.
Although Trump was convicted, Blanche’s legal tactics helped delay Trump’s sentencing until after the election —effectively ensuring he would not serve prison time.
In a federal case accusing Trump of election interference, the Trump defense team won at the Supreme Court to expand protections from criminal prosecution for the president just before Trump won his second term. Blanche and his team also convinced a Trump-appointed judge in Florida to throw out charges in a second federal case accusing him of mishandling classified documents.
As rumors swirled that his work for Trump could land Blanche a job in the administration, Blanche told allies that he was not interested in a government job, sources told CNN at the time.
Still, he was nominated by Trump to serve as the Justice Department’s number two. At the time, Trump wrote on social media that Blanche will fix “what has been a broken System of Justice for far too long.”
Once in the job, sources say that Blanche immediately eyed the attorney general spot. His work pleased the president, sources told CNN, particularly as he became increasingly frustrated with Blanche’s predecessor, Bondi. When she was fired,Blanche seamlessly slipped into the job, even moving into Bondi’s old office the first week she was gone.
“This is exactly what he’s been waiting for,” one department official said of his confirmation.
Blanche’s path to confirmation was far from smooth. He spent weeks trying to get into the good graces of senators whose votes were crucial to his success, but some of his efforts were futile.
His struggle to align Republican lawmakers was most obvious with Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Despite a two-day trip to her home state of Alaska, reaching two settlements and two lawsuits, and awarding more than $6 million in grants, Murkowski voted to oppose Blanche.
“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration,” Murkowski said of her decision. “I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”
Blanche also concentrated on Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who raised concerns about the “weaponization of the Justice Department,” including a probe into Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide and key witness in the congressional investigation of the January 6 Capitol attack.
It is unclear whether the Justice Department will move for an indictment of the ex-aide.
Blanche’s initial vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee was even delayed as he underwent tense talks with Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, both of whom had concerns about the anti-weaponization fund and the IRS deal.
In the end, Blanche signed one memo that ended the anti-weaponization fund, and released a second, unsigned memo clarifying the terms of the tax-immunity agreement.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Kara Scannell contributed to this report