GOP Senator Denies ‘Fake News’ On Any Deal to Confirm Trump’s AG Pick: ‘They Know What They Have to Do’
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) made it absolutely clear on Tuesday that he had not struck any kind of deal with the Trump administration to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general out of committee.
Cornyn had previously said he would only vote to advance Blanche, the current acting attorney general and Trump’s former personal lawyer, if the DOJ rewrote the settlement behind Trump’s so-called weaponization fund in a way that unequivocally killed the fund.
Cornyn posted to X on Tuesday, “Fake news alert: there is no ‘deal’ on Blanche nom. They know what they have to do.”
The post comes a day after Politico reported Cornyn and Blanche were in ongoing talks about securing his vote and rewriting the settlement, which was between Blanche’s DOJ and the IRS.
“While Cornyn said he is in talks with Blanche and others at the Justice Department, he has not secured changes he has demanded to the settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS. Those include formally rescinding a proposed $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization fund’ and restricting the scope of tax audit immunity granted to the president and his family,” Politico reported on Monday.
“We’re talking about that. That hasn’t been fully resolved yet,” Cornyn added when pressed on whether or not Trump would need to approve the modifications he wants to the settlement. “We’re still talking. I mean, there’s different ways to approach it.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Thursday on whether or not to advance Blanche’s nomination, and any one GOP defection could kill Blanche’s chances.
Cornyn, who recently lost his primary against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, fumed at Blanche during a hearing earlier in the month as Blanche declared the highly controversial fund was dead, but eventually conceded under pressure that it could be revived at any time.
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