Trump boosts Alaska funding to seemingly win Murkowski’s vote on Blanche

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he attends the premiere of the documentary film Melania at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (REUTERS)

Lisa Murkowski is undecided on the confirmation of controversial AG nominee Todd Blanche, but President Donald Trump’s DOJ appears to be doing everything it can to sweeten the deal for her.

Now that the nomination of Trump’s former personal attorney and author of the widely panned Trump $1.8 trillion slush fund hangs in the balance, the Blanche’s DOJ is raining down cash on The Last Frontier, with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage to fill long neglected prosecutorial positions, particular positions focused on prosecuting federal cases impacting rural Alaska and our Tribal communities.”

“This position allocation is a direct result of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s recent trip to Alaska,” Blanche’s office stated in a Fridy press release. “On July 7 and 8, Acting Attorney General Blanche traveled to Anchorage and the Western Alaska communities of Bethel and Emmonak. During his visit, he heard firsthand the need for increased resources to address public safety concerns in rural communities.”

Blanche is a highly provocative figure, panned by Democrats and conservatives alike for his fawning subservience to Trump and his willingness to indulge Trump’s war on reporters and other perceived enemies.

Former Trump administration attorney Ty Cobb said Blanche "has taken efforts and measures in his short time as acting attorney general to pursue revenge prosecutions,” and Cobb warned that under Blanche "there will be no ethical lines between the White House and the attorney general."

Nevertheless, the Trump/Blanche ploy to grease the machinery of the confirmation could very well work based on past success, reports Politico.

“Murkowski is one of the few genuine swing votes in the Senate with a history of leveraging her vote across presidencies to win big time policy concessions and victories for her constituents,” Politico said.

In 2023, Politico reports the senator pushed the Biden administration to move forward with a massive ConocoPhillips drilling project in Alaska estimated generate billions in new revenue for the state in exchange for her long-term strategy of breaking with her party to vote for key Biden nominees and legislative priorities.

“As recently as last year, she was persuaded to vote for the GOP’s massive tax and spending megabill and its deep cuts to social safety net programs in part because the final package mandated new lease sales for drilling across the state and extra funding for Alaska’s rural hospitals,” Politico reported. “And when she was helping hold up an appropriations bill in committee in a dispute over the location of FBI headquarters, one Republican senator — granted anonymity to speak candidly — joked they had considered offering an amendment to move the agency’s main building to Alaska to see if that got her to cooperate.”

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