With just a week left before the Senate leaves for its August recess, the Trump Administration is increasing pressure on lawmakers to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general.
The White House said in a press release on Friday that Blanche “should be confirmed by the U.S. Senate without delay.” The White House included statements from law enforcement organizations, state attorneys general, former Justice Department officials, and other groups that it said were “united in demanding [Blanche’s] expeditious confirmation.”
That same day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged the upper chamber to confirm Blanche before leaving Washington, D.C., to go on recess at the end of next week.
“Todd Blanche has been an invaluable partner in advancing President Trump’s agenda and as a result of his leadership at the Department of Justice, Americans are safer today,” Rubio said in a post on X. “The Senate should not leave for recess without confirming him as Attorney General.”
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins also on Friday called on lawmakers to confirm Blanche.
“President Trump chose the right leader for @TheJusticeDept,” Rollins said in a post on X. “It’s time for the Senate to confirm Todd Blanche as Attorney General.”
The confirmation of Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general for the Department of Justice (DOJ) since Pam Bondi was ousted from the role in April, was upended this week after the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote that would have advanced his nomination.
Two senators in the President’s own party have threatened to pull their support of Blanche, saying that they want confirmation from the DOJ that the proposed $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which was part of a settlement agreement for Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the I.R.S. over the leak of his tax returns, has been eliminated.
Trump and Blanche have said that the fund, which would have provided compensation to people who claim that they were unfairly targeted by the government, is “dead.” But Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas who was one of the two holdout votes, said this week that he has not received written confirmation of that.
“This is about making sure that even if you’re the President of the United States, you don’t get favorable terms from the government in a settlement of a lawsuit that ordinary citizens would not get,” Cornyn said on Thursday. Cornyn lost his re-election run in his state’s Republican primary in May, to the President-backed challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The Trump Administration’s renewed pressure on the Senate to push through Blanche’s confirmation comes a day after the President indicated he might pull the nomination.
“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,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday, referring to the two Republican holdouts.
During his Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday, Trump said of Cornyn threatening to pull his support of Blanche: “I don’t really blame him, to be honest with you.”
“I endorsed his opponent,” Trump said. “The man that lost, the man that I didn’t endorse, has become very angry, and that’s ok.”
“I mean, I understand that,” he continued. “I probably would do the same thing.”
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