US Senate confirms Trump's ex-lawyer as attorney general

WASHINGTON, Aug 8: The US Senate confirmed President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer Todd Blanche as attorney general early Saturday after Republican lawmakers shrugged off Democratic concerns over politicization of the Department of Justice.
Blanche, who has already been serving as the top US law enforcement officer in an acting capacity, represented Trump as his private attorney in several criminal trials before entering government.

The Senate, which Republicans narrowly control, confirmed him by 50 votes to 49. Republican senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joined the Democrats in voting no, underlining the political sensitivity over the nomination.

Blanche said he was "deeply honored by the trust and confidence President Trump has placed in me to lead the Department of Justice."

"I am grateful to the Senate for staying late to complete this process. To the dedicated public servants of the Department of Justice, thank you for your work each day to uphold the law and keep our country safe," Blanche wrote on X.

Trump, who has upended US political norms by seeking to bring nominally independent government agencies under his increasingly direct control, calls Blanche a "star."

Democrats opposed Blanche from the beginning, accusing Trump of turning the Department of Justice into a political weapon.
"The attorney general is supposed to be the people's lawyer," Senator Dick Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Tuesday.

"Mr Blanche continues to operate as the president's personal lawyer, treating the Justice Department like a law firm serving one client -- the president."

There were doubts over whether the White House could persuade a handful of Republican holdouts, without whom even the narrow confirmation would have been impossible.

Reuters adds, the US Senate on Friday confirmed dozens of President Donald Trump's nominees for government positions, including some high-profile ambassadorships and top State Department posts that have been open for months.

The list includes 11 ambassadors to foreign nations, including envoys to Australia, Norway and Brazil, as well as five people nominated to ambassador-rank positions, filling a fraction of the more than 100 vacant ambassadorial positions after Trump broke with U.S. tradition and recalled dozens of career diplomats appointed under his predecessor, Democratic former President Joe Biden.

The Senate approved the list of 74 nominations by 51 to 47, along party lines, with Trump's fellow Republicans in favor and Democrats and independents who caucus with Democrats opposed.

The list also includes six assistant secretary of state nominees, including the top State Department officials for the Middle East, Europe and Western Hemisphere regions, filling key diplomatic roles that have been filled on an interim basis since Trump returned to office.   
                                               
One nomination -- Florida politician Daniel Perez's appointment as ambassador to Brazil -- could be complicated. The Brazilian government has held up giving formal approval of Perez amid a diplomatic spat with Washington.�"AGENCIES