Blanche Committee Vote in Limbo After Cornyn Meeting Canceled

Sen. John Cornyn’s planned meeting on Wednesday with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was canceled, imperiling the chances of his nomination advancing through the Judiciary Committee this week.

The Texas Republican said he was “disappointed” to have to cancel the meeting due to the Department of Justice’s unwillingness to produce an ironclad change to the IRS settlement that spawned a proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and shielded President Donald Trump from future tax audits. The DOJ did not return a request for comment.

The canceled meeting was slated to take place a day before the committee was scheduled to vote on Blanche’s nomination. Cornyn said that Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) wants an answer on how he will vote by 4 p.m. in case they need to postpone the markup. At this point, Cornyn remains an impediment.

“I’m not prepared to vote ‘yes,’ let me put it that way,” Cornyn said when asked if he planned to vote “no” on Thursday.

“Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or go along, but they’re mistaken,” Cornyn said of the DOJ’s lack of action on the fund.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), another Judiciary Committee member, is aligned with Cornyn on what he needs to see from Blanche in order to support the nomination.

“I think they realize now that we’re serious. I think [Sen. Thom Tillis] is pretty much on the same page that I am. They better get real. There’s not much time left,” Cornyn said.

A “no” vote by either Cornyn or Tillis would likely doom Blanche’s chances of getting confirmed as attorney general.

“We’ve still got another five to six hours. That’s plenty of time to resolve this,” Cornyn continued. “There’s no real need to have a meeting if they produce the documentation that we requested and that he testified to under oath in his hearing.”

Cornyn has insisted that Blanche put in writing that the anti-weaponization fund will not go forward and that Blanche’s word that it is “dead” is insufficient. The Texas senator has noted repeatedly that the deal could be revived later via a breach of contract lawsuit, meaning that a change must be made in writing.

“I haven’t seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I requested. … There’s been a lot of back and forth with my staff. I don’t know if it’s been the reluctance of the DOJ staff,” he said.

Republicans have been hoping to confirm Blanche next week before they depart for the Senate’s annual August recess.