Scorned senators force retreat on Blanche confirmation vote

▪ Blanche confirmation vote postponed

▪ Paul threatens Fauci with contempt

▪ Trump announces Dulles renovations

▪ Michigan Senate poll released

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Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are showing no signs of backing down on their demands concerning Todd Blanche’s nomination to become permanent attorney general, throwing his confirmation into serious doubt.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) canceled the panel’s scheduled meeting to vote today on Blanche’s nomination, after negotiations throughout the day failed to win over the pair of “YOLO caucus” senators.

An increasingly frustrated Cornyn told reporters that the Department of Justice (DOJ) “stonewalled” his request.

“They’ve simply refused to cooperate,” he said.

Cornyn and Tillis have been pushing Blanche and the DOJ for a formal written declaration that the settlement President Trump made with the IRS is not going forward. The deal included the creation of a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund for alleged victims of political prosecutions and an agreement for the IRS not to audit the president’s finances nor those of his businesses and his family members.

The DOJ told a federal court last month that the fund was effectively dead as it faced bipartisan backlash, and Blanche had said it would not be going forward. But the IRS audit agreement remains intact.

The GOP holds a 12-10 edge on the panel, giving Blanche a narrow path forward in what would presumably be a party-line vote at best, as Democrats are solidly opposed to the nomination. That gives significant power to Cornyn and Tillis, two key votes who have a few months left on the job after being forced out or primaried by Trump.

Cornyn was set to meet with Blanche on Wednesday to discuss the nomination, but the meeting was canceled. The senator said after its cancellation that he was “not prepared to vote yes” on the nomination.

He told reporters he didn’t understand the reason for the holdup.

“Beats me. Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they’re mistaken,” he said.

Trump expressed confidence about the nomination during comments to reporters at the White House, saying Cornyn may be “upset with me because I didn’t endorse him,” referring to Trump-backed Ken Paxton’s victory over Cornyn in the Senate primary in May.

“I don’t know what it is, but I haven’t heard that there’s a problem. I’ve heard he’s going through quite nicely,” Trump said.

Tillis has largely left the dealmaking to Cornyn, The Hill’s Rebecca Beitsch reports, but he said during Blanche’s confirmation hearing that he wants to “stick a fork” in the fund.

Tillis said ahead of Grassley’s decision that the Thursday vote could be a “failure” if it were held. He said he wouldn’t attend the meeting if no deal was reached.

“If there’s pressure on doing the markup, then I don’t want the chairman to have a failed markup. Then I would just not be there to make quorum, so he wouldn’t be confronted with that eventuality,” he said.

Even beyond the Judiciary Committee, more obstacles could lie ahead for Blanche.

Rounding out the YOLO caucus — a group of Republican lawmakers who have shown a new willingness to buck the president since he effectively ended their time in Congress — is Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who also lost to a Trump-backed primary opponent.

Cassidy told Semafor’s Burgess Everett on Wednesday that he is worried about “lawfare” from the DOJ, which has pursued charges against various high-profile adversaries of the president.

“I have to make sure that he is the attorney general who used to be the president’s personal attorney, not the personal attorney who is also the attorney general,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy could not hold up the nomination on his own. However, it’s unclear where other more moderate members, including Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), will come down on Blanche.

In the meantime, the administration has other methods to make payouts to defendants that Trump and his allies view as having been wronged by past administrations.

In the latest sign of the anti-weaponization fund’s goals going forward, a million-dollar payout was announced Tuesday for an anti-abortion activist convicted in 2024 of preventing access to an abortion clinic, The New York Times reported.

▪ ABC News: James Comey attorneys allege DOJ sought input from gangster on case.

▪ The Hill: Trump, DOJ appeal E. Jean Carroll verdict to Supreme Court.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,100 points after the Federal Reserve voted to hold interest........

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