Sen. Cassidy’s ‘existential anxiety’ about whether Blanche will uphold the constitution on elections

On Face the Nation Sunday, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) seemed not fully sure about how the new U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche might approach November’s midterms.

Asked by host Margaret Brennan if he is “confident” that Blanche will uphold the Constitution in those elections, Cassidy said, “There’s always this existential anxiety,” before pausing.

“I am as confident as you can be about the future as you are,” Cassidy said. “I cannot predict the future, and this is not a black-or-white decision.”

The U.S. Constitution is clear about barring federal interference in states’ election administration processes. It is also clear about not letting armed federal agents or military personnel at the polls. Yet, Blanche has refused to rule out having the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) intervene in the midterms in any of these manners.

The Senate confirmed Blanche as attorney general early Saturday morning, and Cassidy was one of the deciding votes after expressing skepticism for weeks. Blanche previously served as President Donald Trump’s criminal defense attorney.

Cassidy was previously doubtful about supporting the confirmation, in large part because of how Blanche handled Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund” controversy. The fund was set up earlier this year as part of a settlement with the IRS, which allowed Trump $1.776 billion to award to supporters who he believed were unfairly targeted by President Joe Biden’s administration.

The settlement also gave Trump and his family immunity from future IRS audits, which Cassidy said on the show was “totally wrong.” He also said he believed that Blanche had officially stopped Trump’s anti-weaponization fund, even though Trump has said recently that he’d like to revive it in other ways.

“Again, if you’re looking for a black-or-white decision here, you’re not going to find it,” Cassidy said on Face the Nation. “This is a gradation of gray. But 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 that effectively is dead.”

Cassidy’s vote gave Blanche the 50-49 edge he needed to become attorney general. Cassidy got choked up on the Senate floor when announcing his vote.

Blanche served as acting attorney general over the past three months, replacing former Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was fired for not pursuing Trump’s anti-voting agenda aggressively enough.

Under Blanche, the DOJ stepped up its efforts to defend Trump’s anti-mail voting executive order and to obtain private voter files from states. Courts and voting experts have said that his threats to prosecute and withhold funds from local election officials who’ve refused to comply could be perceived as intimidation.

Attorney Ty Cobb, who served as White House counsel during the first Trump administration, recently warned that Blanche would more eagerly facilitate any attempts Trump may take to rig the midterms.

“Last time an election didn’t go Donald Trump’s way in 2020, his then-Attorney General Bill Barr repeatedly refused to cave to pressure to declare there was widespread voter fraud,” Cobb said in an interview Saturday with Mehdi Hasan. “If the midterms don’t go Trump’s way this fall, is there any world in which Todd Blanche stands up to Trump if he’s asked to find some fake evidence of voter fraud, or are we screwed now?”