Todd Blanche’s nomination to become the next U.S. attorney general appears to be in peril. First, a key committee postponed its scheduled Thursday vote as a pair of Republican senators continue to withhold their support over a controversial settlement between President Donald Trump and the Internal Revenue Service. Then, Trump floated the idea of postponing the nomination altogether until 2027.

Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have expressed concerns over the Justice Department’s settlement of Trump’s unprecedented lawsuit against the IRS, which included the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, as well as a provision that would effectively shield Trump, as well as his named associates and family members, from tax audits on past conduct.

During his confirmation hearing, Blanche declared that the fund, which has faced legal challenges and been denounced as a potential slush fund for Trump allies and potentially even January 6 rioters, was being abandoned by the federal government. But the acting attorney general has balked at making any written assurances that the fund is truly dead, to the ire of Cornyn and Tillis.

The senators are members of the Judiciary Committee, the panel that could act as the death knell for Blanche’s nomination. With all of the committee’s Democrats uniformly opposed to Blanche, he could fail to make it to the full Senate if receives even one “no” vote from a Republican committee member.

A Senate........

© Daily Intelligencer