Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced United States Senators last week to plead his fitness to serve in the official position, but a hesitant Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has delayed the Judiciary Committee confirmation vote that was expected later today.
Sen. Cornyn told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning he was “not prepared” to vote for Blanche, who previously served as President Donald Trump’s personal attorney and helped negotiate the controversial settlement between the president and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Without Sen. Cornyn's vote, the nomination cannot advance out of the committee.
After cancelling a planned meeting with Blanche on Wednesday, Sen. Cornyn said he has not fulfilled his end of the bargain—to formally modify the settlement and make explicitly clear there is no $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund or tax audit immunity for the president and his family.
“Hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this,” Sen. Cornyn told reporters. “Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they’re mistaken.”
Sen. Cornyn said he has not yet received a written agreement signed by Blanche verifying this, and that he will need it to secure his vote.
The Department of Justice told POLITICO it had shared a proposal with Sen. Cornyn’s staff, but the senator said it did not come close to meeting his demands.
“It did not cover the audit issue or the scope of the release issue,” Sen. Cornyn told reporters just before the deadline to push the confirmation vote.
But rumors on potential ulterior motives began to spread quickly, with some skeptics saying the senator was looking for a “deal” with Blanche to secure his crucial vote.
“Fake news alert: there is no ‘deal’ on Blanche nom,” Sen. Cornyn shot back on X. “They know what they have to do.”
President Donald Trump himself made his own postulations as to why Sen. Cornyn was uncertain on Blanche.
“Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, referring to when he backed Attorney General Ken Paxton in the recent Senate primary runoff.
Despite Sen. Cornyn’s public pushback and the now delayed vote, the president said he is sure the confirmation will move forward.
“I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there is a problem,” Trump said. “I heard he’s going through quite nicely."
