The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines Tuesday to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, clearing the way for a full Senate floor vote.
The vote came after Blanche struck a deal with two Republican holdouts, Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who had blocked an earlier committee vote over a $1.776 billion Justice Department fund. Blanche signed an order Sunday formally rescinding the fund, which was created in a May 18 settlement tied to President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS.
“My vote to advance Mr. Blanche’s nomination goes beyond this document. We need a stabilizing force at the Department of Justice,” Cornyn said before the vote, as per The Hill. “Mr. Blanche deserves the opportunity to provide that.”
Tillis had branded the fund a “payout pot for punks” and said Sunday’s order satisfied his concerns. “It’s done. It’s been rescinded, and I am satisfied,” he said.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said before the vote that the two senators’ objections “were shared by many, including this senator.”
Democrats on the panel argued the fix was cosmetic. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the committee’s top Democrat, said the documents Blanche signed “are not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement and are therefore unenforceable,” adding that the fund “can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed.”
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware raised a similar point, noting the Justice Department has not affirmed the fund’s end in any of the pending lawsuits tied to it. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said Republicans got “nothing” in the way of guarantees.
The settlement also included a separate order granting Trump, his adult children and their businesses immunity from federal investigation or audit, including matters tied to the IRS. Democrats on the panel said that provision remains in place despite Sunday’s fund rescission.
Tillis used Tuesday’s session to press Blanche on the prosecution of former FBI Director James Comey, who was indicted in April in the Eastern District of North Carolina over an Instagram post featuring seashells arranged in the shape of “86 47.” “Some bonehead in North Carolina thinks that that’s a crime,” Tillis said. “They better damn sure have information to back it up.”
Blanche has served as acting attorney general and previously told the committee during his July 15 confirmation hearing that the weaponization fund was “dead.” Cornyn and Tillis had demanded the commitment in writing before agreeing to advance his nomination.
