President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wouldn’t object to temporarily withdrawing Todd Blanche as his nominee for attorney general amid resistance from two Republican senators, another major blow to Blanche’s confirmation battle.
Trump said he could renominate Blanche after Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the primary voices of opposition, have left the Senate in the new year. But that itself is a gamble, as the makeup of the Senate could shift in ways that would make Blanche’s confirmation even more difficult.
“I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd’s name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump’s announcement puts Blanche’s nomination in even further peril, escalating a battle between the administration and GOP lawmakers over a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and an agreement that shields Trump and his family from government action over tax issues.
Already, Cornyn and Tillis had signaled they were unwilling to support Blanche’s nomination if the administration would not take action to unwind the fund and modify the settlement agreement, and the nomination cannot move forward without their support. And responding to Trump’s announcement, Cornyn suggested Thursday they were not alone.
“POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis,” he wrote.
Earlier on Thursday, Cornyn had accused the White House of standing in the way of a deal to help Blanche win confirmation. The nomination hit another, major setback Wednesday evening when the Senate Judiciary Committee was forced to postpone a vote to advance it amid resistance from Cornyn and Tillis.
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