Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faces an uncertain path to confirmation as the next U.S. Attorney General, with two key Republican senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, indicating they will not support his nomination without further assurances.
The holdouts are focused on the unresolved future of the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" and outstanding changes they seek in President Donald Trump's IRS settlement agreement, which was linked to the fund. The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a key vote on Blanche's nomination.
In July, Trump announced a $1.776 billion fund to compensate individuals claiming they were wrongly targeted by the Biden administration. This was in exchange for Trump dropping a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS concerning the unauthorized disclosure of his tax information, for which a former IRS contractor pleaded guilty in 2023. Shortly after the settlement's announcement, Blanche, who previously served as Trump's criminal defense attorney, added an addendum that would prevent the government from continuing existing audits of tax returns belonging to Trump, his family, and their companies.
This arrangement drew bipartisan criticism, with accusations of self-dealing and concerns over the potential use of taxpayer funds for individuals involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
During Blanche's confirmation hearing on July 15, Cornyn highlighted that the original settlement establishing the fund had not been formally rescinded. Blanche acknowledged this but stated the Department of Justice would agree to codify assurances that the fund would not proceed.
"What I want is the written document to say the same thing he did in his sworn testimony in front of the Judiciary Committee," Cornyn told reporters. "He said the weaponization fund is dead. He said the audit immunity basically doesn't extend to parties beyond the lawsuit, and it doesn't also extend to future actions by federal agencies other than the IRS."
Cornyn indicated that his team had been in discussions with the administration to amend the IRS settlement, but expressed that the Department of Justice had not made a sufficient commitment to alter the written document to align with Blanche's sworn testimony. "That is correct," Cornyn responded when asked if Blanche should not expect his vote on Thursday unless these commitments are formalized in writing.
Tillis echoed Cornyn's stance, stating he was not ready to commit to voting for Blanche's nomination and was still awaiting changes to the IRS settlement agreement.