Screenshot via YouTube
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) made it clear to reporters on Wednesday he is not sold on voting 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.
“Todd Blanche is off,” Cornyn told reporters midday Wednesday, about a meeting he was supposed to have with Blanche to settle the issue. The fund was created in a settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS regarding his tax returns being leaked to the media.
“We’ve made clear from the outset that we expected some written proposals to modify the release that was signed in the tax dispute with President Trump and his organization. It’s clear President Trump was wronged. Obviously, the guy who leaked the information is now in prison for violating the law,” Cornyn said, adding:
But the scope of the release is really the problem, and as you heard during the hearing, I asked him, for example, “Is this intended to release people who are not parties to this lawsuit?” He said no. I said, “Well, the audit protection about future audits — is this intended to apply to anyone other than the parties to the lawsuit? Is it retroactive?”
He said yes, it’s not designed to provide prospective immunity from tax audits. And then third, I said, “Is this intended to apply to anyone other than the defendants in the lawsuit, which are the IRS and the Treasury, and not other federal agencies?” And he said yes. To me, it’s pretty simple — they could state that in a modified release form, and that would be responsive to my request. But for some reason, I don’t know whether it’s the staff of the DOJ or who it is, but they know what they need to do, and they’ve simply refused to do it.
“So, are you a no tomorrow if this comes to a vote?” pressed CNN’s Manu Raju.
“Well, Senator Grassley tells me that we need to know by 4 o’clock this afternoon whether the markup is still on. So we’ve still got a little time, and hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this and will respond,” Cornyn replied.
“What if it stands as it is right now — would you vote no?” Raju followed up.
“I’m not prepared to vote yes, let me put it that way,” Cornyn replied.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on whether or not the advance Blanche’s nomination on Thursday, a vote which could be delayed if Cornyn and Blanche do not come to an agreement before then.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
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