On Saturday morning, August 8th, 2026, the US Senate confirmed Todd Blanche, former personal attorney to Donald Trump, as attorney general by a narrow 50-49 vote. The confirmation has sparked strong criticism from Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats.

Schumer accused Senate Republicans of handing Trump “an excuse on a silver platter” to continue his “pervasive, breathtaking misconduct” by approving Blanche. He stated, “If you want to wipe out corruption, you can’t have the president’s personal attorney as the attorney general. You don’t need a PhD in political science to know that.” Schumer also pledged that Senate Democrats will continue to resist what he described as the Trump administration’s “assault on the rule of law and undermining of democratic values.”

Adding to these concerns, New Mexico Democratic representative Melanie Stansbury called the confirmation a “dark moment” for the nation’s traditional system of checks and balances. She expressed skepticism about Blanche’s independence, saying in a radio interview, “I’ve got to be convinced that he is an attorney general who just happens to have once been President Trump’s personal attorney, as opposed to President Trump’s personal attorney who is now the attorney general. I think there’s a big difference between the two.”

During Blanche’s prior roles as deputy and acting attorney general, the department indicted former FBI director James Comey twice, New York attorney general Letitia James, and the Southern Poverty Law Center, cases viewed by some experts as tenuous.

Separately, the government faces a potential shutdown after September 30th if new funding is not approved. Republican Senate appropriations committee chair Susan Collins described the continuing resolution as “a major step toward averting a damaging shutdown that only harms vital programs and federal workers,” noting it does not significantly alter funding levels.

Sources