Senate Panel Vote To Advance Blanche’s Nomination Gets Postponed
A planned Senate committee vote to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general has been delayed, potentially endangering his candidacy, after pushback from two Republican lawmakers over Blanche’s role in the controversial settlement in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS.
An update on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s website noted that Thursday’s planned meeting to discuss Blanche’s nomination has been postponed.
In a statement shared with various outlets, a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa—the judiciary committee chair—said the meeting is postponed as “work continues to secure sufficient support” for Blanche’s nomination.
Grassley’s statement noted that Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., want “written assurances” from the DOJ regarding the Trump-IRS settlement.
The postponement of the vote was announced after several hours of talks between the DOJ and the two senators and a meeting between Cornyn, Tillis and Grassley.
While Blanche has not commented on the postponement yet, the DOJ told the Associated Press that it intends to continue working “productively with Senators to address any concerns.”
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump dismissed concerns about Blanche’s confirmation hitting a roadblock and insisted that he was “outstanding…You just wouldn’t find a better person.” The president then took a shot at the Texas senator, saying “Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him.” Trump endorsed Cornyn’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won the Texas GOP Senate primary in May. Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Cornyn pushed back against Trump’s remarks, saying: “I think that’s a convenient excuse for not cooperating with the judiciary committee’s appropriate role in the confirmation.” The president has not yet commented on the delay in the Senate panel vote.
Earlier on Wednesday, Cornyn told reporters that the DOJ was refusing to modify the IRS settlement—which would grant Trump, his sons and others broad immunity on IRS audits. He also noted that the agency was unwilling to formally scrap the controversial $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to compensate people who believe they were targets of politically motivated federal prosecution. Blanche told Congress earlier that the nearly $1.8 billion fund was “dead,” but Cornyn and Tillis have demanded written assurances from the DOJ. Cornyn told reporters, “I haven’t seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested…Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they’re mistaken.”