WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he may withdraw and delay Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid conceding to Senate Republicans’ demands over a sweeping tax audit immunity deal benefiting the president and members of his family.
Hours after Trump’s post, however, Blanche held a meeting with Cornyn and Tillis and the two sides were back to working collaboratively, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations around Blanche’s confirmation.
“I think as far as Blanche and the Department of Justice, we were pretty much on the same page,” Cornyn said Thursday.
“But then when the president got wind of it, he wasn’t willing to go along with it.”
Cornyn and Tillis have said they won’t back Blanche’s nomination without additional assurances in writing about the settlement, which included a deal to drop tax claims against the president and a now-scrapped plan to create a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” meant to compensate Trump allies.
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.
Though 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, who took the reins of the department after Pam Bondi’s firing in April, can still lead the agency as either acting attorney general or deputy attorney general, the No. 2 post to which he was confirmed last year.
The deputy attorney general, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the law enforcement agency, can perform the duties of the attorney general if that post is vacant.
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