Why is Susan Collins opposing Todd Blanche’s nomination?

Collins said she opposes Blanche because she believes the Department of Justice has become too political. She cited his role in a settlement shielding Trump from IRS audits, his pledge to restrict abortion medication, and the now-cancelled ‘anti-weaponization fund’ as reasons for her vote against him.

How many votes does Todd Blanche need to be confirmed?

Blanche needs 50 votes in the Senate to be confirmed as attorney general. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority, but Sen. Mitch McConnell is absent, leaving Blanche two Republican defections short of confirmation.

What was the deal Blanche made to secure committee approval?

Blanche struck a deal with Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis to end the ‘anti-weaponization fund’, a programme Democrats opposed. The deal secured their votes in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approved his nomination in a 12-10 vote on 4 August 2026.

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Politics1 outlets ran this4 min read

Susan Collins to oppose Todd Blanche for attorney general, imperilling confirmation

Blanche secured committee approval but needs 50 Senate votes to be confirmed as Trump’s nominee

MediaBias Comparison Desk

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This article was written at the MediaBias News desk from the one-paragraph digests an aggregator publishes for each of the outlets listed below it, together with 2 of those outlets' own reports read in full. How we do it

4 Aug 2026, 23:05Updated 4 Aug 2026, 23:05

Susan Collins to oppose Todd Blanche for attorney general, imperilling confirmation

What this story says

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, will vote against Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, leaving him two Republican votes short of confirmation.
Blanche was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee in a 12-10 vote on 4 August 2026 after agreeing to end the ‘anti-weaponization fund’.
Blanche needs 50 votes to be confirmed, but Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Bill Cassidy have not yet decided how they will vote.
Collins cited Blanche’s role in a settlement shielding Trump from IRS audits and a pledge to restrict abortion medication as reasons for her opposition.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced on 4 August 2026 that she will vote against Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general. Blanche, the acting attorney general, was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier the same day in a 12-10 vote, advancing his nomination to the full Senate. He secured the committee’s approval after striking a deal with Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., to end the ‘anti-weaponization fund’, a programme Democrats opposed.

Blanche needs 50 votes to be confirmed. Republicans hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, but Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is absent for medical reasons. Collins’s opposition leaves Blanche two Republican votes short of confirmation. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Bill Cassidy, R-La., have not announced how they will vote. All committee Democrats opposed Blanche’s nomination, while all Republicans on the committee supported it.

Collins, who is facing a competitive reelection campaign, said in a statement that she believes Blanche is a capable lawyer but that the Department of Justice has become increasingly political. She cited Blanche’s role in a settlement between Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service that shielded the former president and his family from audits, and his pledge to an anti-abortion organisation to seek a ban on mailing abortion medication. Collins also mentioned the now-cancelled ‘anti-weaponization fund’ as a reason for her opposition.

What the coverage left out

No centre- or right-rated outlet ran this story at all. None of the reports below mention whether Blanche has secured commitments from any other Republican senators beyond Cornyn and Tillis, or what arguments the White House or Trump administration officials have made in his defence.

Tags:#USPolitics #SenateConfirmation #AttorneyGeneralNomination #TrumpAdministration #RepublicanDefections

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

CNBC led on Collins’s opposition as a critical blow to Blanche’s confirmation. The report quoted Collins’s statement in full, including her reasons for opposing the nomination: Blanche’s role in the Trump-IRS settlement, his pledge to restrict abortion medication, and the ‘anti-weaponization fund’. CNBC also noted that Blanche can only afford to lose two Republican votes, given the party’s slim majority and McConnell’s absence.
The report described the ‘anti-weaponization fund’ as controversial and quoted Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., calling the documents Blanche posted to mark its end a ‘sham’ and a ‘fraud on the Congress’. CNBC included the committee vote breakdown, specifying that all Democrats opposed Blanche while all Republicans supported him.

Centre

We hold no leaning breakdown for this story, so there is nothing to report about the centre.

Right

We hold no leaning breakdown for this story, so there is nothing to report about the right.

Read it at the source

1 outlet, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.