Cornyn Cancels Meeting With Blanche as Texas Senator Ramps Up Pressure To Reverse Trump’s IRS Immunity

Senator John Cornyn on Wednesday abruptly canceled a meeting with the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, ahead of a planned vote in the Judiciary Committee to confirm Mr. Blanche as the new head of the Justice Department. Mr. Cornyn says Mr. Blanche needs to roll back President Trump’s immunity from future IRS audits, which was guaranteed after the president and the DOJ settled a lawsuit earlier this year. Mr. Cornyn has been more of a thorn in Mr. Trump’s side in recent months as he nears retirement. The longtime Texas senator lost his bid for re-election this year after being defeated in the GOP primary by a Trump backed challenger, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton. In order to be confirmed, Mr. Blanche must first make his way through the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Republicans hold 12 seats to Democrats’ ten. Both Mr. Cornyn and Senator Thom Tillis have been demanding changes to Mr. Trump’s settlement with the federal government which included not just the IRS immunity, but the establishment of the $1.776 “anti-weaponization fund,” though that has since been scrapped. On Wednesday, Mr. Cornyn told reporters that he was canceling his planned meeting with Mr. Blanche after the DOJ failed to provide him any guarantees that the president’s settlement agreement would be amended. “They know what they need to do but they simply refuse to do it,” Mr. Cornyn told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday. “Hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this and will be responsive.” Mr. Cornyn’s decision to cancel the meeting was first reported by Punchbowl News. Both Messrs. Cornyn and Tillis have said that they want the DOJ and Mr. Trump to come to a new agreement which will both bar the creation of such “anti-weaponization” funds in the future and amend Mr. Trump’s immunity from audits. Under the current agreement, the DOJ still has the ability to set up the fund if it so chooses, and Mr. Trump, his businesses, and his family members are protected from any financial investigation by the IRS. During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Mr. Blanche said he had not discussed the settlement with Mr. Trump, nor did he discuss it with the president’s lawyers. On Tuesday, Mr. Cornyn wrote on X that there was no “deal” to move Mr. Blanche’s nomination through the Judiciary Committee. He says the anti-weaponization fund and the audit immunity must be dealt with. “If there’s not enough votes to … confirm him, then Senator Grassley might decide to postpone it. But I don’t think that’s the number one goal right now,” Mr. Cornyn told reporters, referring to Senator Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Mr. Cornyn said Wednesday that Mr. Grassley wants to know by the end of the day if Mr. Cornyn will vote yes on the Blanche nomination. Mr. Cornyn says he is not yet prepared to do so. Mr. Tillis also seems inclined to vote no on the nomination. Last week, he told the New York Sun that he is preparing legislation to block the creation of any kind of anti-weaponization fund in the future, though he would prefer to see the president and the DOJ come back to the table and rewrite the original settlement agreement. “The key to this, as I said, [is to] stick a fork in the [anti-weaponization] fund and tune the language on the audit [provision],” Mr. Tillis said.

Cornyn Cancels Meeting With Blanche as Texas Senator Ramps Up Pressure To Reverse Trump’s IRS Immunity

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