Cornyn reaches deal with Justice Department to allow Blanche nomination to advance
The Hill · C · trust 69/100
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Blanche’s nomination on Tuesday and Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), two members of the panel, were threatening to vote “no” because the administration wouldn’t agree to clarify a settlement with Trump to permanently end the proposed $1.8 billion fund.
“Sen. Cornyn has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice, which will be issuing a formal order permanently terminating the anti-weaponization fund and making clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the President, and the IRS,” said Cornyn spokesperson Natalie Yezbick.
Blanche posted a signed memo to his social media account late Sunday night formally rescinding the fund as well as an unsigned statement from the Justice Department clarifying the terms of a settlement with Trump and his family granting them immunity from audits related to past tax returns.
“Although the Acting Attorney General has repeatedly advised that the Fund is not moving forward, and the Department has repeatedly represented to district courts that the Fund is not moving forward, today’s Order officially rescinds the May 18, 2026 Order,” the Justice Department said, referring to the order that established the fund earlier this year.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has scheduled an executive business meeting of the panel at 9 a.m. EDT Tuesday to vote on Blanche.
Cornyn and Tillis had threatened to vote no on the nominee unless the Justice Department clarified in writing that the proposed fund, which was part of Trump’s settlement with the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service, was dead and would not be coming back.
Grassley had previously scheduled a vote on Blanche for Thursday of last week but was forced to postpone the markup after Cornyn and the Justice Department could not reach a deal.
Cornyn and Blanche said someone at the White House had pushed back on amending the settlement between Trump, the Justice Department and the IRS to permanently eliminate the fund and define the scope of the agreement to exclude parties and agencies that were not part of the president’s $10 billion suit against the IRS, which he filed after a contractor leaked his tax returns.
Trump last Thursday floated the idea that he would pull Blanche’s nomination from Senate consideration and resubmit it in January of 2027 after Cornyn and Tillis are retired from Congress.
Republican senators, however, warned that they may lose seats in the November midterm election — and possibly control of the Senate — and that confirming Blanche next year might not be easier.
“This place could be very different,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Judiciary panel, warned last week.
Trump on Saturday threatened to revive the anti-weaponization fund if Cornyn and Tillis blocked Blanche’s nomination.
“If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill, which takes care of those who have been so badly treated by the Crooked Joe Biden (and Obuma!) Administration (I get nothing, although I was treated horribly!), PASSED,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
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