Trump lashes Murkowski after Blanche vote

President Trump attacked Sen. Lisa Murkowski after the Todd Blanche nomination cleared the Senate, lashing out Saturday at the Alaska Republican who had warned she could not trust him to restrain the administration’s worst instincts. Trump’s response came hours after Blanche was confirmed as attorney general, capping a tense vote that exposed lingering Republican divisions over the president’s legal and political battles.

Murkowski, who has often broken with Trump, joined Sen. Susan Collins of Maine as the only Republicans to vote no. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana supplied the decisive support for Blanche, despite being one of Trump’s frequent targets. Trump then posted three messages about Murkowski, signaling that he had not moved past her earlier opposition or her vote to convict him during his second impeachment trial in 2021.

Murkowski made clear on Friday morning why she opposed the Todd Blanche nomination. She said the nation needed an attorney general who would check the administration’s worst impulses and said she did not have confidence that Blanche would do that. She added that the politicization and weaponization of the Justice Department did not begin under the current administration, but had intensified under it. Her comments put a sharp point on the fight over whether the Justice Department should operate as an independent law enforcement agency or as an extension of presidential power.

Blanche enters the job with a background that made him a natural choice for Trump and a red flag for critics. He served as Trump’s personal lawyer and defended him in both the New York hush money case and the classified documents case. Murkowski’s resistance mattered because it briefly raised the possibility that Blanche could be stopped before reaching confirmation. Instead, he now serves as acting attorney general while the administration moves ahead.