The Alaska senator, who joins GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in opposing Blanche, cited the Justice Department's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, a sweeping tax audit immunity deal for Trump and a proposed $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate the Republican president's allies.
“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration. I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case," Murkowski said.
Murkowski said she is concerned the Trump administration could proceed with its proposed fund to compensate people who believe they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted by the Justice Department during the Biden years, despite the fact that Blanche has already formally rescinded it.
“Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds,” she said.
With Sen. Mitch McConnell Kentucky not attending Senate sessions, Blanche can only afford to lose two Republican votes if all Democrats oppose him. And another key Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, has not said how he will vote.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Blanche's nomination only after a deal reached last weekend with two other Republican senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — who had been threatening to block his confirmation over the settlement of Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service regarding the president’s leaked tax returns.
Cornyn and Tillis backed Blanche’s nomination after Blanche rescinded the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” writing in an order “beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.”
