WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its vote on whether to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general after two Republican senators said they did not receive written assurances they were seeking from the Justice Department surrounding a settlement between President Donald Trump and the IRS.
The GOP-led committee was scheduled to vote Thursday morning on sending Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate, but Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom have clashed with Trump and neither of whom faces re-election in November, have complicated Blanche’s path to confirmation with their demands from the Justice Department.
Cornyn and Tillis met with Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Wednesday afternoon as they said they were continuing to negotiate with the Justice Department.
A spokesperson for the committee said Wednesday evening that the vote would not happen Thursday.
“Chairman Grassley works to set President Trump’s nominees up for success in committee, not failure,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Senators Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the Department of Justice regarding the Trump-IRS settlement. Tomorrow’s markup is postponed as work continues to secure sufficient support in committee to favorably report Attorney General-nominee Todd Blanche, who is highly qualified for the job.”
A Justice Department official said Wednesday night that the Justice Department has transmitted new language to Cornyn and Tillis and that conversations to resolve their concerns continue.
Much of Cornyn and Tillis’ negotiations with the Justice Department has been around the “anti-weaponization” fund that was established under a purported settlement between Trump and the executive branch, which he controls, over a lawsuit he filed over the disclosure of his tax records. The suit led to a five-year prison sentence for a former IRS contractor.
A federal judge in Virginia indefinitely blocked the fund after a former Jan. 6 prosecutor sued. A federal judge in Florida found that Trump’s IRS lawsuit was brought in “bad faith” for an “improper purpose” and ordered sanctions against several people involved, including Blanche.
But the settlement agreement also had provisions that offered Trump — along with his family members and companies — some protection from IRS audits.
Tillis said Wednesday that his demands to the Justice Department have been consistent: kill the anti-weaponization fund and narrow the settlement with Trump involving IRS audits.
“Get whoever the president’s lawyers are the parties to the agreement to sign off on that, we’re good to go,” Tillis said before the vote was postponed.
He said he has been in “constant daily contact with the DOJ” and that it was “working on a draft right now.” After the meeting with Grassley and Cornyn, Tillis said that it appeared the Justice Department has agreed to his terms on the anti-weaponization fund but that he still needed clarification on who is protected against IRS audits through the settlement.
Cornyn, who lost his primary race to Trump-endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, said Wednesday that it is Grassley’s decision when the vote is held.
It was not immediately clear Wednesday evening when the vote would take place.
Cornyn told reporters that Blanche’s team had failed to provide written proposals to modify the document release that was signed in the tax dispute with Trump and his organization.
“I haven’t seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested,” Cornyn said.
He later said Trump’s claim that he is holding up the vote because Trump didn’t endorse him in the GOP primary is “a convenient excuse for not cooperating with the Judiciary Committee’s appropriate role in judicial confirmations.”
As the talks continued Wednesday night, the administration was pointing the finger at Cornyn, making some of the same accusations from earlier in the day.
According to a senior administration official, people familiar with the conversations described the senator as continually moving the goal posts, canceling meetings and refusing to communicate — no matter what the Justice Department offered.
Cornyn’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.
Blanche, who previously was Trump’s personal defense attorney, had served in the key No. 2 position at the Justice Department until Trump fired Pam Bondi as attorney general in April amid frustrations with her leadership.
After he took over as the acting attorney general, Blanche told NBC News in April that Americans should be “happy” that Trump was so involved in Justice Department matters. Less than two weeks later, the Trump administration brought a case against former FBI Director James Comey, a longtime Trump foe, over an Instagram photo of seashells.
Following the Comey indictment, Trump was said to be happy with Blanche’s performance and ultimately ended up nominating him for the job permanently. Comey’s legal team argued in a court filing this week that the seashells case came about because Blanche was seeking to “please President Trump” during his “audition” for the role.
During his confirmation hearing this month, Blanche said he was not a “yes man” for Trump.
