Trump Threatens To Withdraw Blanche’s Nomination as Republican Senators Seek To Nix President’s Audit Immunity, Anti-Weaponization Fund

Rather than cut a deal to roll back his lawsuit settlement that grants him permanent immunity from IRS audits, President Trump says he is willing to withdraw acting attorney general Todd Blanche’s nomination until next year. Two Republicans, Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, have been holding up the Blanche nomination as they try to get Mr. Trump to give up his settlement agreement. For weeks, Messrs. Cornyn and Tillis have been trying to get the Justice Department to rewrite its agreement with Mr. Trump’s attorneys. The settlement bars the IRS from conducting audits into the president, his businesses, and his family. It also set up what became known as the $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that was set to be used to pay out those who had been investigated or prosecuted during the Biden administration, possibly even those who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Mr. Cornyn said that someone at the White House apparently had told Mr. Blanche that the president was not going to accept a modified lawsuit settlement. “We were pretty close to landing the plane last night, but this morning there’s been some more complications,” Mr. Cornyn told reporters. “I think if this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would’ve worked this out, but apparently he’s getting some pushback from higher ups at the White House.” He says he does not know who at the White House had been speaking with Mr. Blanche.At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Blanche said that the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund would not be re-established, though there is no court order or legal agreement barring the creation of such a fund in the future. Both Messrs. Cornyn and Tillis say that once the DOJ and Mr. Trump’s personal attorneys put in writing that both the fund and the IRS immunity are no longer on the table, then they are ready to move forward with Mr. Blanche’s nomination. “It causes me concern that they don’t want to put it in writing that this is not something that is going to be enforceable in the long-term,” Mr. Cornyn said. On Thursday, however, Mr. Trump made clear that he has no interest in cutting a deal with Messrs. Cornyn and Tillis, both of whom are leaving office at the end of this year. “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,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. Both Messrs. Cornyn and Tillis are leaving office thanks to Mr. Trump. Mr. Cornyn was defeated by a Trump-backed primary challenger earlier this year and Mr. Tillis opted for retirement rather than run in a primary after Mr. Trump said he would be endorsing someone else. In response to Mr. Trump’s statement, Mr. Cornyn wrote on X that the president “is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.”Mr. Blanche was supposed to receive a vote on Thursday in the Senate Judiciary Committee so that he could advance to the floor for a final vote. That meeting had to be canceled, however, after Messrs. Cornyn and Tillis dug in on their demands for changes to Mr. Trump’s lawsuit settlement. Republicans currently hold 12 seats on the Judiciary Committee to Democrats’ ten, meaning if Mr. Blanche loses even one Republican senator, then the vote will tie and his nomination will fail. “It’s my intention to get Blanche approved. Exactly when that can happen, I don’t know,” the chairman of the committee, Senator Chuck Grassley, told reporters Thursday.

Trump Threatens To Withdraw Blanche’s Nomination as Republican Senators Seek To Nix President’s Audit Immunity, Anti-Weaponization Fund

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