Washington — Todd Blanche was sworn in as attorney general at the White House on Monday after the Senate narrowly voted to confirm the president’s former defense lawyer to helm the Justice Department over the weekend. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted a video of Blanche taking the oath of office in the Oval Office. Judge Emil Bove, who served alongside Blanche on Mr. Trump’s legal defense team before Bove was appointed to the federal bench, administered the oath as the president looked on.

Blanche has served as the acting attorney general since Pam Bondi’s ouster in April, after working as deputy attorney general. He was formally nominated as the nation’s top law enforcement official in June. 

The Senate confirmed Blanche early Saturday morning following a marathon overnight session as senators prepared to depart for their August recess. For weeks, Blanche’s prospects appeared uncertain, as Democrats pledged to oppose his nomination, and several Republicans voiced concerns. 

For a number of Republicans, the Justice Department’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, aimed at providing payouts to people who alleged they were wronged by the federal government, was at the center of their consternation. Although Blanche testified in June that the fund was “dead,” concern persisted among some Republicans, including Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. But the pair dropped their opposition last week after Blanche issued an order rescinding his directive that established the fund.

After Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska announced that they would oppose Blanche’s nomination last week, the decisive vote came down to Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Cassidy has been more willing to break with his party in recent months after he was defeated by a Trump-endorsed challenger, and had remained mum on his support for the acting attorney general. Then, in a short speech on the Senate floor Friday, Cassidy announced he would back Blanche, in a move that he later said wasn’t a “black or white decision.” 

“Mr. Blanche is not perfect, and he will tell you this, but the choice is not between perfection and Mr. Blanche,” Cassidy said in his remarks on the floor. “It is between Mr. Blanche and another acting attorney general who may not run the department effectively under President Trump and who indeed may not be as good as Mr. Blanche.”

With Cassidy’s support, Blanche’s nomination eked through in a 50-49 vote. 

Blanche’s rise to the attorney general post comes after he became a prominent figure in Mr. Trump’s orbit ahead of his return to the White House. 

Blanche joined Mr. Trump’s legal defense team in 2023, after Mr. Trump was indicted in a case related to “hush money” payments to Stormy Daniels in 2016. Mr. Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts in May 2024.

Mr. Trump nominated Blanche to be deputy attorney general shortly after winning the presidential election in November 2024. 

Blanche received his law degree from Brooklyn Law School and clerked for two federal judges in New York before he was hired to work as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Blanche later joined the law firm WilmerHale in New York, before going on to work at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft until 2023, when he started his own firm, Blanche Law.