The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a key vote on the nomination of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to become the permanent attorney general, following a standoff between the Trump administration and two Republican senators, according to the Washington Post. The committee had been scheduled to vote Thursday morning on whether to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full chamber, but that markup was called off Wednesday evening as lawmakers and administration officials wrangled over unresolved demands for written assurances.
Senate Judiciary Committee Scraps Blanche Vote Amid GOP Standoff
A committee spokesperson stated that the vote was delayed as work continues to secure sufficient support
to favorably report the nominee, noting that Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure,
according to nbcnewyork.com. The delay leaves Blanche’s confirmation hanging in the balance, as the panel cannot advance his appointment without the backing of key Republican holdouts on the committee.
Tax Settlement Controversy and the Anti-Weaponization Fund
The core dispute centers on a controversial settlement between President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service stemming from the 2019 leak of his tax returns. Spearheaded by the Justice Department, the agreement established a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization
fund and included a provision barring the government from ever probing past tax data belonging to Trump, his family, or his companies, as detailed by courthousenews.com.
Although a federal judge tossed the settlement—issuing a scathing ruling earlier in the month that Trump had engaged in self-dealing and expressing deep trouble that Blanche signed the agreement given his prior representation of Trump—lawmakers have pressed for formal guarantees. The Justice Department stated in June that it was no longer moving forward with the fund amid bipartisan outrage, but officials acknowledged the audit immunity agreement remained in place. Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina demanded written assurances that the fund is dead and pressed for clarification on the tax immunity deal, with Cornyn stating he was not prepared to vote yes
without them.
Negotiations, Standoffs, and Administration Reactions
Ahead of the postponed vote, Cornyn and Tillis met on Capitol Hill with Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley. Cornyn told reporters that the Justice Department had stonewalled his requests for written documentation, asserting that Blanche’s team failed to provide written proposals to modify the document release. I haven’t seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested,
Cornyn said, according to NPR.
As negotiations dragged on, the Justice Department transmitted new language to Cornyn and Tillis Wednesday evening in an effort to satisfy their demands. However, tensions flared publicly. President Trump downplayed concerns about the confirmation path, suggesting that Cornyn might be upset because Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Cornyn in the state’s Republican Senate primary. Cornyn dismissed that explanation as a convenient excuse, while a senior administration official countered by accusing the senator of continually moving the goalposts and refusing to communicate.
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