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Trump Floats Pulling Blanche Nomination07/31 06:19
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' demands over a sweeping tax audit immunity deal benefiting the
president and members of his family.
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' demands over a sweeping tax audit immunity
deal benefiting the president and members of his family.
After failed negotiations forced the delay of a committee vote to advance
Blanche's nomination, Trump suggested he was holding firm against pressure from
Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. They have expressed concerns
about the controversial settlement of Trump's lawsuit against the Internal
Revenue Service, which a judge denounced as an exercise in self-dealing.
The senators said the Justice Department seemed interested in reaching an
agreement with them, but the White House wouldn't budge to aid the confirmation
of Trump's loyal former personal attorney, who has aggressively pursued the
administration's priorities as acting attorney general. Instead, Trump said in
a social media post that he might pull Blanche's nomination and resubmit it
after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year.
"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."
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.
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.
With all Democratic senators opposed, just one Republican holdout on the
Senate Judiciary Committee could sink Blanche's chances for confirmation. And
even if Blanche makes it through the Senate Judiciary Committee, it's unclear
if he has enough Republican support to be confirmed by the full chamber.
Cornyn wrote in a social media post Thursday that the president is "mistaken
if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are
limited to me and Senator Tillis."
While the Justice Department dropped plans for the "Anti-Weaponization Fund"
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.
Though 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. But the senators
suggested the White House is resisting putting it in writing.
"The president's getting bad advice. He should listen to Blanche and others
who think if it's dead, it should be rendered completely dead," Tillis told
reporters about the fund.
Another sticking point was 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 have pressed the 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.
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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