Sen. Bill Cassidy said Sunday that his vote pushing Todd Blanche's attorney general confirmation up to a Senate majority was not a "black-and-white decision."
The Senate voted early Saturday morning to confirm Blanche 50-49, with Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska in opposition.
Blanche, President Donald Trump's former personal attorney and acting attorney general since Pam Bondi's ouster in April, climbed a steep hill to gain approval from some GOP senators largely due to his role in creating a $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" as part of Trump's settlement with the IRS.
Cassidy's decision was swayed by Blanche reaching a deal with Texas Sen. John Cornyn to nullify the payout fund for Trump allies — including Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump — on Aug. 2. The fact that Cornyn, a former Texas attorney general, was "comfortable" with the deal was important to Cassidy, he said.
"What I'm told as regards to the Anti-Weaponization Fund, if you put it in the context of the political environment, the judicial environment, the process you would have to go back through in order to reinstate it, that effectively it's dead," Cassidy said to Margaret Brennan on CBS's "Face the Nation."
There were "a lot of positive things to say about Todd Blanche" and "stable leadership" was necessary for the DOJ to do its job, Cassidy said.
Cassidy said, however, that he almost voted against Blanche for continuing to grant protection to Trump and his family from IRS probes.
"That is wrong — and no American should be targeted by the law, but no American should be above the law. And that, frankly, almost weighed to vote 'No,'" he said to Brennan.