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Todd Blanche’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s attorney general is hanging in the balance with a key GOP senator saying the Justice Department has not done enough to assure him a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund won’t move forward.
The pushback from Texas Sen. John Cornyn comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee has been planning to advance Blanche’s nomination on Thursday – but without Cornyn’s support, the vote will fail.
Cornyn said Wednesday that a planned meeting with Blanche to discuss his demands for DOJ to formally kill the fund had been canceled. The Texas Republican told CNN he still has not received the written commitment he has been demanding from Blanche and the Justice Department to formally kill the fund. As a result, he told reporters, he is not prepared to vote yes.
Asked by CNN if he would block the nomination if the hearing proceeds, Cornyn answered, “I’m not prepared to vote yes. Let me put it that way.”
With Cornyn and fellow Judiciary committee Republican Sen. Thom Tillis still unhappy that the DOJ hasn’t provided a written assurance to kill the fund, it’s unclear whether the committee will proceed with Thursday’s vote. Cornyn said the panel’s chair, Chuck Grassley, will determine around 4 p.m. on Wednesday whether to proceed with Thursday’s session.
“So, we still got a little time, and hopefully, they now recognize the seriousness of this, and will be responsive,” Cornyn said, referring to Blanche’s team.
A DOJ official told CNN the department, “provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn’s staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator’s office. We look forward to further discussion around any outstanding concerns.”
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However, Cornyn told reporters Wednesday that he hasn’t “seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I’ve requested.”
Blanche has insisted that the “anti-weaponization” fund — a controversial pool of money set aside to award people who claim to have been wronged by the Justice Department, including possibly January 6, 2021, rioters — is no longer happening. The administration had also previously asserted in a court filing that it had abandoned the “anti-weaponization” fund.
When asked if the committee will still vote on Thursday, Grassley said, “You’ll have to ask Tillis and Cornyn about that.”
Some in the Justice Department were surprised by Cornyn’s social media post Tuesday, which made clear he was still not prepared to vote in favor of Blanche. He posted to X that “there is no ‘deal’ on Blanche nom. They know what they have to do.”
The acting attorney general’s office had been confident that Blanche’s nomination would pass the committee vote. Sources within the Justice Department said there was still some confusion about what exactly would satisfy Cornyn’s push against the “anti-weaponization” fund.
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CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Sarah Ferris contributed to this report.