Blanche's nomination for AG could be an uphill battle

Some Republicans have criticized Blanche over the "Anti-Weaponization Fund."

Should he be nominated for attorney general, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination is expected to face challenges in the Senate.

President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate Blanche during a dinner Wednesday evening at the White House.

Blanche, who was once Trump's personal attorney, served as deputy attorney general until the president tapped him to serve as acting attorney general after Pam Bondi's ouster in April.

Blanche told reporters he is "honored and humbled" by the nomination.

"I was with him last night at the dinner when he when he said that," Blanche said at a press conference about fraud arrests in Colombus, Ohio. "I will work with the senators. I have a good relationship with the Senate on both sides. I don't say no to phone calls. I'll meet with anybody that wants to meet with me."

Blanche's hardest fight might be before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will need to vote on his nomination before the whole Senate can vote to approve it. Blanche can ultimately only afford to lose a single Republican vote on the committee.

Blanche has lost favor with a number of Senate Republicans after becoming the face of the politically unpopular "Anti-Weaponization Fund" on Capitol Hill, and the Judiciary Committee is stacked with some of the fund's most outspoken GOP opponents.

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is on the Judiciary Committee and has slammed the fund a number of times. He's also had no issue gumming up Trump's nominees: his blockade of Kevin Warsh's nomination to be chairman of the Federal Reserve could have been instrumental in the Justice Department dropping its lawsuit against former Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

Tillis told reporters earlier Thursday that he thought Blanche's chances of confirmation "go up immensely" with the anti-weaponization fund "off the table." But he said he's undecided.

"I actually believe that getting this issue off the table improves Todd's chances of getting through Judiciary and getting through the floor," Tillis said. "If this is still out there, can you imagine what the Democrats are going to do to that man during a confirmation hearing and can you imagine how that could potentially influence a couple of our members?"

"I haven't made a decision yet. The key for Todd or anybody going through the Judiciary Committee is being pretty tight on January the 6th," Tillis said. " They better not have said for one minute that the people that beat up police officers like these right down here (pointing to Capitol Pol