Rifts deepen between GOP holdouts, Trump as Blanche saga drags on

The president has threatened to withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general until the Republican lawmakers blocking his confirmation leave office, escalating an already tense standoff.WASHINGTON (CN) — A pair of Senate Republicans holding up Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general were unshaken Thursday after President Donald Trump slammed them on social media and threatened to make a procedural end-run around their opposition.But even as the Senate Judiciary Committee put a key vote on ice, at least one of the GOP holdouts said he remained optimistic that they could reach a deal with the White House and get Blanche’s appointment across the finish line.The Trump administration has for days been locked in a struggle with Texas Senator John Cornyn and North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, who have so far refused to vote for Blanche in the upper chamber’s judicial affairs committee. The impasse, which stemmed from a controversial settlement of a lawsuit by Trump against the Internal Revenue Service, forced the Judiciary Committee to postpone a Thursday morning meeting in which they would have considered the nominee.A furious Trump took aim at Cornyn and Tillis in a post on Truth Social on Thursday morning, claiming the political careers of both senators — who are leaving Congress at the end of the year — had been “ended by my action.” Tillis announced last year that he would retire from the Senate. Cornyn, however, was defeated in a tough primary election by the Trump-endorsed state attorney general Ken Paxton.“Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it!” wrote the president. “He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time.”And the president, who noted Blanche currently serves as acting attorney general, said he would consider “temporarily withdrawing” his nomination from the Senate and refiling it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office.The Republican holdouts, though, did not seem swayed by Trump’s threats.“POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit are limited to me and Senator Tillis,” Cornyn replied in a post on X.And Tillis rejected Trump’s suggestion that he was withholding his vote for Blanche as political retribution. “I’ve never asked for the president’s endorsement, and he gave it to me in spite of that,” he told reporters. He also said he’s “not a no” on the attorney general nominee and that he was “working on getting this done.”“I’m still optimistic that we will,” Tillis added.The White House did not return a request for comment about whether Trump would in fact withdraw Blanche’s nomination and keep him on as acting attorney general until his path to confirmation is clear.Tillis and Cornyn have both expressed concerns about Blanche’s handling of the Trump-IRS settlement, which in June spawned the Justice Department’s infamous $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund the agency has since walked back amid bipartisan backlash. Cornyn in particular has also said he is worried about an addendum to the settlement which shields Trump, his family and his companies from future investigations into their past tax information.The Texas Republican said during Blanche’s nomination hearing this month that the agreement’s language appears to open the door for Trump or another plaintiff in the IRS to revive its provisions through a future lawsuit. The nominee, for his part, denied that such a thing would happen.Cornyn has for weeks demanded that Blanche sign a written declaration affirming that the settlement is dead, but he has so far resisted those calls.Things came to a head Wednesday, when the GOP senator called off a last-minute meeting with Blanche after he said the Justice Department again refused to provide such an assurance. An afternoon meeting between Cornyn, Tillis and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley yielded little progress.The Justice Department sent Cornyn’s office yet another proposal late Wednesday which a source familiar with the matter said would address the lawmaker’s concerns. But a spokesperson for Cornyn said Thursday that he had sent them a counterproposal, suggesting the agency’s offering was not sufficient.Democrats, meanwhile, balked at Trump’s claim that he would withdraw Blanche from consideration. Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, did not appear to be taking the president’s threat seriously.“Who can follow the musings of this president?” he said. “This afternoon he’ll have a different answer to the same question.”As of Thursday afternoon, it was unclear when the Judiciary Committee might be ready to vote on Blanche. The panel cannot advance his nomination without affirmative votes from Cornyn and Tillis — no Democrats are expected to support him.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads