Senators Cornyn and Tillis Threaten to Block Blanche Nomination Over Trump’s IRS Deal
New York Times · LC · trust 24/100
John Cornyn and Thom Tillis accused the attorney general nominee of refusing to put on paper his promise to kill aspects of the deal he cut to settle President Trump’s suit against the agency.
Listen · 5:13 min Share full article Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, cannot afford to lose a single Republican vote. Credit... Alex Kent/The New York Times By Glenn Thrush and Michael Gold
The senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who are not returning to Congress next year, accused Mr. Blanche of refusing to put on paper his promise to kill aspects of the deal.
In June, Mr. Blanche said he would drop a proposed $1.8 billion fund to compensate purported victims of Biden-era actions by the Justice Department but said a provision shielding Mr. Trump and his family from tax investigations would remain in place.
The tax provision emerged as the main sticking point on the eve of a scheduled committee vote on his confirmation. Mr. Cornyn, a former state judge who lost a primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Ken Paxton, said he had received no written assurances from Mr. Blanche that the audit shield would not apply to future tax liabilities or be extended to a wider circle of people.
Mr. Cornyn repeatedly expressed astonishment that the administration did not simply comply with what he regarded as a narrow request to place limits on a deal.
That the fate of an attorney general would be jeopardized by the administration’s apparent determination to keep in place a tax deal offering a sitting president enormous financial advantages illustrated a defining characteristic of Mr. Trump’s second term: a president’s personal interest, along with public interest, is now a factor in governing.
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