President Trump said Wednesday he could withdraw his nomination of Todd Blanche to be attorney general and wait until next year to try again, after some Republican holdouts have departed the Senate.
Mr. Trump said Mr. Blanche would remain in charge as acting attorney general, and he would wait until Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn leave at the end of their final terms before resubmitting Mr. Blanche for confirmation as permanent attorney general.
“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,” Mr. Trump said Thursday on Truth Social.
Mr. Trump called Mr. Blanche “a star” who “has the potential to go down as one of the greatest attorney generals of all time.”
The two senators have been battling Mr. Trump over the agreement he reached with Mr. Blanche to dismiss the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. The settlement called for immunity for past tax malfeasance by the president and his sons, and created a $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund to pay off “victims” of the Biden Justice Department.
After intense criticism, Mr. Blanche said the fund is moribund as far as the Justice Department is concerned, and the immunity deal is limited in scope.
But the Republican senators want the settlement renegotiated to completely eradicate the fund. They fear that if it remains on paper, the president or another party, such as his sons, could later go to court and ask a judge to enforce the fund.
The senators also want the immunity limits to be made more explicit.
The two sides are exchanging ideas but have yet to come to an agreement.
Mr. Blanche had been slated for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday morning, which would have cleared him for a confirmation vote by the whole Senate.
Chairman Chuck Grassley postponed the vote late Wednesday rather than see the nominee fail.
He said Thursday that his goal is to try to get Mr. Blanche confirmed now.
“I’m trying to find a resolution,” said Mr. Grassley, Iowa Republican.
Democrats on the panel are expected to oppose Mr. Blanche, and with the two senators, which meant both GOP senators’ support was needed.
Mr. Tillis said Mr. Trump’s threats only deepen the mystery around the fund.
“It’s supposed to be dead. If it’s dead, all we’re talking about is throwing the dirt on the casket,” he said.
He said the fact that the president would be willing to squelch his own nominee “suggests to me that there’s at least one or two people in the White House” who had hoped to revive the fund.
Mr. Cornyn also stressed the need to get the settlement revisions in writing.
“POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis,” he wrote on social media.
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