Trump's AG pick off life support after key Republican rebels relent
Two key Republican rebels are dropping their resistance against President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department.Sens.John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have for weeks dug their heels into the ground against confirming acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to fully take over the position.
They have been trying to extract concessions from the administration in exchange for their votes.And those concessions came on Sunday as Blanche’s first key test fast approaches.After warring with Trump and Blanche’s confirmation nearly being withdrawn, the duo are now ready to support the president’s pick to replace former Attorney General Pam Bondi.TRUMP THREATENS TO YANK HIS OWN AG NOMINEE AS GOP REVOLT GROWSA split image of President Trump, Sens.
Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas (Eddie Seal/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Aaron Schwartz/AFP via Getty Images; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc.)"We want to express our gratitude to Mr.Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon," they said in a joint statement.Cornyn and Tillis had two primary objectives: ensure, in explicit writing, that the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund would return, and that Trump’s audit immunity would not extend beyond him and the defendants listed in his lawsuit against the IRS.Blanche announced on Sunday that the anti-weaponization fund was getting the permanent boot, and that the audit protection was just going to be narrowly tailored to Trump and his family.DOJ BARS IRS FROM AUDITING TRUMP’S PRIOR TAX RETURNS IN SETTLEMENT ORDER SIGNED BY BLANCHECornyn and Tillis said that they "are pleased" with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) formal order to deal with both issues, and noted that doing so addressed "concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share."Both issues came from the settlement deal Trump and his family reached with the IRS e...