RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Shows Good Morning America ShopGMA Interest Successfully Added We'll notify you here with news about Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Off On Stream on Todd Blanche’s AG prospects uncertain as 2 key GOP votes hold out Cornyn and Tillis are waiting for proof the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is dead.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faces a key vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday in his quest to become the next U.S. attorney general.
However, two Republican senators -- John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina -- have said they still don't have everything they need from Blanche in order to vote in favor of his nomination.
The issue for the key Republican senators continues to be the uncertain future of the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" and outstanding changes they want to see made to President Donald Trump's IRS settlement agreement that the fund was part of.
Trump in May announced the $1.776 billion fund to compensate those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration, in exchange for Trump agreeing to drop his $10 billion suit against the IRS over the unauthorized disclosure of his tax information during his first term, for which a former IRS contractor pleaded guilty in 2023 .
The day after the settlement was announced, Blanche, who was formerly Trump's criminal defense attorney, signed an addendum to the settlement that would bar the government from continuing any existing audits of tax returns filed by Trump, his family and their companies.
The arrangement sparked accusations of self-dealing and a bipartisan uproar over the possible use of taxpayer money to pay rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In Blanche's confirmation hearing on July 15, Cornyn repeatedly noted that the original settlement that first established the fund has still yet to be formally rescinded. While Blanche acknowledged that, he also said the Department of Justice would be fine with codifying in some way to assure senators the fund would not move forward.
"What I want is the written document to say the same thing he did in his sworn testimony in front of the Judiciary Committee, and, as you recall, what he said is 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 told reporters off the Senate floor on Monday.
"That's what we're trying to get them to agree to, which is again what his sworn testimony was. So I don't know why they're -- I don't know why they're so reluctant to do that when he's already sworn to it," he added.
Cornyn's comments come as his team has been in discussions with the administration to amend the IRS settlement agreement; however, Cornyn said the Department of Justice has not made a sufficient commitment to change the written document to align with Blanche's testimony.
When asked if it is safe to assume that Blanche should not count on his vote on Thursday unless he receives those commitments in writing, Cornyn, who lost his primary to a Trump-backed candidate earlier this year, said, "That is correct."
Tillis also said he wasn't ready to commit to voting for Blanche's nomination, telling reporters Monday that he, too, is still waiting to see changes made to the IRS settlement.
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