Republican senators seek written limits on tax settlement before advancing pick

  • President Donald Trump said he is willing to temporarily withdraw acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the permanent post after two Republican senators withheld their support, forcing the Senate Judiciary Committee to postpone a confirmation vote.
  • Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina demanded written guarantees that the Justice Department formally end a $1.8 billion fund and narrow tax audit protections granted to Trump, his family and his businesses under a settlement the president reached with his own administration.
  • The fund, created as part of the IRS lawsuit settlement, could compensate people claiming they were targets of political weaponization, including defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach.
  • Blanche has publicly said the fund is not moving forward, but the written settlement requires consent of all signing parties — including Trump personally — to amend it, and Blanche acknowledged under questioning that Trump could theoretically sue to enforce the agreement.
  • Cornyn responded to Trump’s threat by saying the president is “mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis,” while Tillis said the prolonged dispute was hurting other Republican candidates.

Trump said Thursday he would temporarily pull Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, leaving him in the acting role until Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year. The Senate Judiciary Committee had scheduled a vote to advance Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate, but late Wednesday the committee postponed it indefinitely, saying work continued to “secure sufficient support.”

The opposition centered on Cornyn and Tillis, who demanded that the administration permanently kill the $1.8 billion fund created in a settlement between Trump and his administration that ended the president’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The senators also wanted written language narrowing the tax audit protections that Blanche had signed for Trump.

A federal judge overseeing the lawsuit criticized the government, noting that it did not make a serious effort to defend itself and that the arrangement appeared to be an effort to engineer a favorable result for the president.

Blanche had stated publicly during his confirmation hearing that the fund was dead and that the audit protections applied only to the named plaintiffs — Trump, his two sons and the Trump Organization — and only to the IRS. But the written order he signed said the protections applied to related parties, covered pending matters and extended to other agencies. Cornyn wanted the written language to match Blanche’s in-hearing testimony, and he pressed for an amended agreement.

Before Trump intervened Thursday morning, both senators indicated they were willing to support Blanche. “If this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would have worked this out, but, apparently, he’s getting some pushback from higher-ups at the White House. I don’t know who, but it doesn’t need to be this hard,” Cornyn told reporters on Capitol Hill, according to The Guardian. Tillis told The Guardian, “I don’t know who it is — I’m just trying to get them out of the way so we can get the president his AG.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that the senators and the administration had exchanged offers and believed they were making progress.

Then just before noon, Trump posted on Truth Social. He noted that he had refused to endorse both men and that their “political careers have been ended by my action.” He added: “I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd’s name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office.”

Cornyn, who lost his primary in May to Trump-backed challenger Ken Paxton, replied on social media: “POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.” Tillis, who is retiring after clashing with Trump, told reporters the issue was damaging other Republicans: “The president’s not winning on this issue. It is killing some of our candidates because they can’t explain it. And now it looks like they weren’t being honest when they said it was inoperative.”

Tillis had also criticized Blanche’s handling of the Epstein files and broader politicization of the Justice Department, according to NPR, but the tax settlement remained the immediate obstacle.

Cornyn and Tillis met with Blanche later Thursday. The Wall Street Journal reported they were working collaboratively. Tillis told reporters, according to The Guardian, “They’re still having conversations.” Cornyn said the fund’s proponents appeared to have “breached the credibility of the White House” and warned that other GOP senators shared concerns about the settlement. The White House declined to comment, with a spokesperson telling The Guardian: “Refer you to the TRUTH.”

Under federal law, Blanche — already confirmed by the Senate as deputy attorney general — can serve as acting attorney general indefinitely, meaning his hold on the department’s leadership would be unaffected even without a confirmation vote. Trump’s stated plan to renominate him after the two senators leave office in January could face headwinds if Democrats win the Senate in November.