Two top Senate Republicans have stalled Todd Blanche’s nomination to become attorney general, forcing a last-minute delay of a key committee vote.
The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate. However, Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina said they wanted stronger assurances that a proposed settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS would not shield him or his family from future tax audits.
In a statement Wednesday night, the committee said the vote would be postponed “as work continues to secure sufficient support.” It came after hours of negotiations with the Justice Department.
The fight over Trump’s IRS lawsuit
The negotiations and holdups all revolve around Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. When he settled the dispute, the deal included a now-scrapped plan to create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate those who believed they were wronged by the Justice Department.
The settlement faced bipartisan outrage, leading to the fund being scrapped, but officials still raise concerns about the audit immunity agreement that remains in place.
Cornyn has said he wants the settlement rewritten to make clear it applies only to current IRS audits and does not protect the president from any future audits.
Trump downplays the delay
When asked about the holdup in the Oval Office, Trump appeared to downplay the dispute.
“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. He — you just wouldn’t find a better person. So I don’t know, maybe John Cornyn’s 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. I heard he’s going through quite nicely.”
Trump previously refused to endorse Cornyn in the Texas Republican Senate primary. Rather, he endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won the nomination.
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