Senate lawmakers voted along party lines Tuesday to move President Donald Trump’s attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche, out of committee and send him to the full Senate, ending weeks of tense negotiations that had put his confirmation in doubt.
The 12-10 vote followed a prolonged standoff driven by Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
The two outgoing GOP senators had withheld their backing while pressing the Justice Department for a written agreement that would curb Trump’s broad tax audit settlement and shut down a disputed “anti-weaponization” fund designed to distribute $1.8 billion to people described as victims of so-called “lawfare.”
Tuesday’s debate underscored how deeply divided the parties remain — not only over whether DOJ’s written assurances will hold, but also over whether Blanche is suited to serve as the nation’s top prosecutor.
Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, urged colleagues to reject the nomination, arguing that the “fundamental problem with Todd Blanche is not that he’s inexperienced, not that he’s not capable, and not that he’s not intelligent.”
“The problem,” Schiff said, is that Blanche “has never been able to shed his role as criminal defense lawyer for Donald Trump.” He added: “He just can’t do it.”
The committee vote sends Blanche to the Senate floor for a vote expected later this week, where the margin is likely to be narrow again. With Mitch McConnell still absent, Blanche can lose only two Republican votes if every Democrat opposes him.
As of this writing, four Republicans had not yet committed to voting “yes,” leaving Blanche’s nomination in jeopardy for the second time in as many months.
Todd Blanche speaks during a press conference
Former President Donald Trump speaks after exiting the courtroom alongside his attorney Todd Blanche.
Senator John Cornyn speaks at the confirmation hearing for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche
RELATED: Kyle Carpenter Before Accident, Injuries: Where Is He Now?
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, a Republican, acknowledged he and others on the panel had shared in his colleagues’ concerns about the anti-weaponization fund and the IRS settlement, describing them both as ‘common sense’ issues that should have been quickly resolved.
‘I don’t think it should have taken as long as it did to get it resolved,’ he said. ‘I don’t have any way of knowing everybody that was involved in it, but it’s just a crime that it took so long to work out,’ Grassley said.
Cornyn, meanwhile, said the updated language that DOJ provided ‘reaffirms’ what Blanche said under oath last month about the status of the fund, though he warned sharply that he ‘expects the Justice Department to live up’ to that commitment in future litigation.
And Tillis said the anti-weaponization fund – which he assailed as a $1.8b ‘payout for punks’ and an ‘insult to police’ injured in the Jan. 6, 2021 US Capitol riot – is ‘dead.’
But Democrats were not quite so easily convinced.
The top Democrat on the committee, Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, said Tuesday that the anti-weaponization fund could theoretically be revived ‘15 minutes’ after Blanche’s confirmation vote.
The deal, he said, was ‘not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement’ and is ‘therefore unenforceable.’
Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, echoed the same sentiment.
He pointed to a social media post from conservative lawyer Mike Howell, who had shared Blanche’s post with the terms of the DOJ deal, along with the comment: ‘Can be undone after Tuesday.’
Blumenthal also cited Trump’s apparent lack of awareness about the deal.
‘We don’t need to say the quiet part out loud,’ Blumenthal said. ‘The president is screaming it.’
The panel vote comes after weeks of negotiation between the Trump administration and two outgoing Republican senators, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who withheld their ‘yes’ votes until DOJ agreed in writing to end the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund, which would and limit the scope of a sweeping IRS audit settlement for Trump and his family.
But the road is not over for Blanche.
A handful of Senate Republicans, including Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Senator John Curtis of Utah, and Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, have not yet confirmed to voting for Blanche later this week, leaving his fate in the air with just days left before the Senate adjourns for August recess.
Cornyn told reporters Wednesday that he has been in talks with two Senator Collins of and Senator Murkowski to gauge their support for Blanche. Cornyn suggested the talks have been going well, though he stopped short of speaking for either of his colleagues.
‘I cast my ballot here in the committee, and they’ll have to make their own decisions on the floor,’ Cornyn said.
