By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
Aug 3 (Reuters) - Two key Republican senators said on Monday they would support Todd Blanche's nomination for U.S. attorney general, paving the way for his confirmation after reaching a deal that would rescind an "anti-weaponization" package widely criticized as a slush fund for supporters of President Donald Trump.
Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina had held up Blanche's nomination as they sought written confirmation that the Justice Department would
not move forward with the $1.8 billion fund. Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump now serving as acting attorney general, posted a statement on social media on Sunday saying the fund had been rescinded.
“We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” Cornyn and Tillis said in a joint statement.
Their support likely enables the committee to advance Blanche's nomination on Tuesday. A vote by the full Senate could come as early as Saturday, unless Democrats agree to an earlier vote.
The agreement appears to resolve one of the highest-profile Republican challenges to Trump in Congress, led by the two lawmakers. Tillis is retiring in January and Cornyn lost his primary for the Republican nomination after Trump endorsed other Senate candidates in each of their states.
The fund was created as part of a legal settlement to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against his own government, alleging that the Internal Revenue Service had mishandled his tax records.
Supporters say the fund was intended to compensate individuals they argue were unfairly targeted by the federal government. Critics, including Tillis and Cornyn, said it could direct taxpayer money to Trump allies, including those who assaulted police officers during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
PAST TAX CLAIMS
The Republican senators had also objected to a related order that barred the IRS from auditing past tax returns for Trump, his relatives and his companies for any tax returns filed before May 18. They said they wanted clarifications to narrow to whom and how it applied to ensure that Trump did not receive blanket tax immunity forever.
Blanche obliged, specifying that it only applies to Trump, his sons and the family business, and that their future tax returns could still be investigated.
“The Department has acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share,” Tillis and Cornyn said.
Blanche's order stated that the tax order "applied by its terms only retroactively." Critics of the Blanche order said immunity for Trump's past tax returns could still save the president millions, and that the settlement agreement requires the approval of both sides, including Trump's personal lawyers, to change it. Trump's personal lawyers did not sign the order and have not publicly commented on the decision.
"They don’t pull back on the ongoing attempts to give the President, his family, and his affiliates unauthorized immunity from tax audits," Brandon DeBot, policy director at the nonpartisan Tax Law Center, said in a statement. "They don’t do anything new to stop the President from trying to bring back the fund, as he threatened to this weekend."
Blanche has served as acting attorney general since April, when Trump fired Pam Bondi.
(Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff in Washington; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Lincoln Feast, Kirsten Donovan, Alistair Bell, Rod Nickel)
