WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid conceding to Senate Republicans demanding limits to a sweeping tax audit immunity deal benefiting the president and members of his family that Trump negotiated with his own Department of Justice.
Trump doubled down on choosing his former personal lawyer as the nation’s top lawman, calling him “a STAR”
and saying he will keep him in the role as acting attorney general until Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina leave office.
“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,” Trump posted on his social media site.
Cornyn and Tillis, who both leave office next year, have said they won't back Blanche's nomination without additional assurances in writing about the controversial settlement of Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax returns.
In a social media post responding to Trump’s suggestion that he may pull Blanche’s nomination, Cornyn wrote that the president is “mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.”
“I don’t know whether they think they can wait us out or we’ll cave, but I assure you we won’t,” Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
The Senate Judiciary Committee was forced to scrap a planned vote for Thursday to advance Blanche’s nomination after the Justice Department and the Republican senators failed to reach a resolution despite hours of negotiations. With all Democratic senators opposed, just one Republican holdout on the committee could sink Blanche’s chances for confirmation.
The settlement included the creation of a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” meant to pay Trump allies who believe they were wronged by the Justice Department that was scrapped after bipartisan outrage about the potential of payouts going to violent Jan. 6 rioters. Officials have said that another piece of the settlement — granting Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits — remains in place.
Through Blanche has repeatedly insisted that the “Anti-Weaponization fund” is dead, skeptical lawmakers have pushed for a commitment in writing — especially since Trump has expressed continued support for the idea.
A crucial sticking point appeared to be the settlement's audit immunity provision that said the U.S. government is “forever barred and precluded” from scrutinizing or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump organization’s current and past tax examinations. Cornyn and Tillis are pressing Trump's administration to modify the agreement to make clear that it covers only existing audits and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.
Tillis characterized the president’s position as “win a battle, lose a war.”
“It makes no sense to me,” Tillis told reporters Thursday. “This is not popular. 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.”
While the majority of Republican senators oppose the settlement, the main pushback to Blanche has come from Cornyn, who lost his seat earlier this year when Trump opposed him in a GOP primary. Trump has also frequently targeted Tillis, who announced last year that he would not run for re-election and has criticized the administration over the pardons of Jan. 6 rioters and other matters.
Through it would be politically embarrassing for the Trump administration, pulling Blanche’s nomination would likely have little practical impact on the management of the Justice Department.
Blanche can still lead the department as either acting attorney general or deputy attorney general, the No. 2 post he was confirmed to last year. The deputy attorney general, who runs the day-to-day operations of the law enforcement agency, is able to perform the duties of the attorney general if that post is vacant.
“I don’t know whether they think they can wait us out or we’ll cave, but I assure you we won’t,” Cornyn said Thursday of the Trump administration.
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Associated Press reporter Kevin Freking in Washington contributed to this report.
