Trump AG pick Blanche stalled as key Republicans refuse to budge

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s chances of confirmation were derailed on Wednesday, less than 24 hours before a pivotal vote in the Senate.

It’s another chapter in the troubled saga that has followed Blanche since being tapped to replace former Attorney General Pam Bondi, and one that boils down to issues among Blanche, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and two key Republicans who control his fate in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., are demanding that the DOJ provide explicit, written proposals to modify the settlement deal reached between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and President Donald Trump and his family earlier this year.

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., had hoped that a deal could be struck and allow for the confirmation to move forward, eying next week as the major floor vote to formally confirm Blanche as Bondi's replacement.

"I think that that's an issue between, right now, the White House and Senators Cornyn and Tillis," Thune said. "But, yeah, I would encourage them to sit down, which I think they are, and try to come to a resolution there so that the markup can continue tomorrow, and we can get Todd Blanche ready for the floor."

The DOJ had until 4 p.m. on Wednesday to get the lawmakers what they wanted, but the agency fell short, and Blanche’s bumpy carriage ride to confirmation turned into a pumpkin.

Without a guarantee that Cornyn or Tillis would vote to confirm Blanche, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, opted to postpone the hearing until a later date.

Their targets are the now-defunct, nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund and the president’s audit immunity. Republicans and Democrats alike railed against the fund, particularly over concerns that the funding would go to people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, riots on Capitol Hill. 

Trump's audit immunity has similarly ruffled feathers. Blanche, in his announcement of the settlement deal earlier this year, outlined that as part of the agreement, the IRS would not be allowed to audit Trump, his family or affiliated companies.

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Cornyn has proven the most resistant until his demands are met.  He's used his newfound freedom to extract concessions from the Trump administration in recent weeks.

His push for an explicit end to the audit language in the settlement agreement is another such example. The longtime lawmaker, who will exit the Senate at the end of this year after being ousted by the Trump-backed Ken Paxton, was set to meet Blanche Wednesday morning.

But the confab was called off, and Blanche continued making the rounds in the Senate throughout the day, capping off his visit to the Capitol with Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. He declined to comment to reporters on his way out. 

Cornyn said that it was "made clear from the outset that we expected some written proposals to modify the release that was signed in the tax dispute with President Trump and his organization."

"We need to conform the actual document to what Todd Blanche testified under oath as the President's Acting Attorney General," Cornyn said. "We've had two meetings scheduled that have now been canceled because they have not been responsive in providing those written documents."

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Trump, when asked about the holdup in the Senate for Blanche, portrayed a president at an arm's length from the situation, and said that he heard his attorney general pick was "going through quite nicely." 

"Well, all I can say is Todd Blanche is outstanding. And I thought he's — I thought it was pretty routine because he's so good," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. "You just wouldn't find a better person. So I don't know, maybe John Cornyn is upset with me because I didn't endorse him. I don't know what it is, but I haven't heard that there's a problem."

Meanwhile, Tillis made clear that he doesn't "have a beef with DOJ or with Blanche." 

"They're trying to get it done, but still gotta get it done," Tillis said. 

He also noted that the number of hurdles that getting those kinds of written proposals through was more extensive than meets the eye. For example, Tillis said that the actual settlement likely was signed by the president's lawyer and not Trump himself. 

"So there's, you know, there's a circle of people that have to go through the loop," he said. "And I get that, but, you know, if we can get it done or possibly get him reported out on Tuesday, if they schedule a markup, I would support that if we get the language."