Blanche confirmation for Trump attorney general a 'work in progress' after defection

Todd Blanche's US Senate confirmation as attorney general faces renewed uncertainty after Republican Senator Susan Collins announced she would vote against him, leaving him with little margin for error.

President ​Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, ​Todd Blanche, faced renewed uncertainty over ‌his ​U.S. Senate confirmation on Wednesday after Republican Senator Susan Collins said on Tuesday she would vote against him, leaving the ‌former Trump personal lawyer with little margin for error.

With Republican Senator Mitch McConnell out indefinitely, Blanche can afford only one more Republican defection. Senators Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski, who ‌previously expressed reservations about his nomination, declined to comment on their vote on Wednesday. A ‌small number of other senators have also expressed concern about Blanche's nomination. Blanche, now serving as acting attorney general, persuaded Republican holdouts John Cornyn and Thom Tillis to support him by pledging in writing that ⁠Trump's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" ​fund was dead ⁠and that a related tax-immunity deal applied only to past tax returns. Both arose from a settlement of ⁠Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.

Questions remain about whether the fund could later be revived and ​why the president deserves a deal from his own administration that could personally ⁠save him millions of dollars Senate Republican Leader John Thune said he wants to confirm Blanche before the chamber leaves ⁠Washington ​for a month-long recess scheduled to begin this week. A vote could come in a matter of days.

"We're having conversations with folks, the small number of people ⁠who will be undecided in this, and I'm hopeful we'll get there," Thune told reporters ⁠on Wednesday. "But again, ⁠it's a work in progress, and we're not there yet." A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.