On Thursday, reports indicated that President Donald Trump was “surprised” by a Wednesday-night Republican revolt, which blocked and delayed the confirmation of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Republican senators who spearheaded the move say they did so because Blanche and the White House have yet to formally kill the anti-weaponization fund that many have decried as a “slush fund” for Trump’s allies.
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AS MSNOW reports, “Late Wednesday night, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed Thursday’s vote to advance Blanche’s nomination after it became clear Republicans didn’t have the votes, with GOP Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina withholding their support.” The resisting senators say they won’t allow the confirmation until the slush fund is officially ended, which could delay the vote until September or even beyond as the Senate’s summer recess is fast approaching and the White House has been reluctant to kill the fund altogether.
“The skepticism surrounding Blanche has centered on the settlement between the IRS and Trump’s DOJ,” MSNOW elaborated. “The agreement created a $1.776 billion fund for individuals who claimed they were the target of weaponization and it granted Trump, his businesses, his family members and others immunity from IRS investigations — two provisions that sparked bipartisan pushback.”
According to MSNOW, “The White House, for its part, has seemed surprised by the opposition. Blanche has spent weeks meeting with senators, and earlier Wednesday, Trump suggested the confirmation was all but assured. ‘All I can say is Todd Blanche is outstanding, and I thought it was pretty routine because he’s so good,’ Trump said. ‘He just wouldn’t find a better person.’”
Blanche previously worked as Trump’s personal lawyer, which some argue should disqualify him from attorney general as it raises questions of conflict of interest and who Blanche would actually serve: Trump or the American people. Recently, during a Senate Judicial Committee hearing, when asked if Blanche was Trump’s “friend,” the former declared, “I’m his lawyer,” before correcting himself and saying, “Was his lawyer.”
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What’s more, Blanche has recently angered many who say he’s been dismissive of the concerns of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, “with a group of survivors telling reporters outside of Cornyn’s office on Wednesday that Blanche had been ‘very condescending’ when he met with them — and even told them to ‘get to the point.’”
Trump may be surprised by opposition to Blanche, but MSNOW reports that “the warning signs in the Senate have been building for weeks. Cornyn and Tillis have repeatedly said the anti-weaponization fund must be declared dead in writing and the audit immunity must be narrowed.” What’s more, other GOP lawmakers have their concerns. As Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) said earlier in the week, “I have been waiting to see the outcome of the hearing on the anti-weaponization fund and the IRS issues. I’ve been following closely.”
The president has his own theories on why Republicans are bucking his demand, saying, “Maybe John Cornyn’s upset with me because I didn’t endorse him.” This was in reference to Trump’s endorsement of Cornyn’s recent primary challenger in Texas, Ken Paxton, who ultimately won the election.
But Cornyn has dismissed that narrative, saying, “I think that’s a convenient excuse for not cooperating with the Judiciary Committee’s appropriate role in confirmations.”
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