President Donald Trump’s Todd Blanche nomination for U.S. attorney general suffered a setback on Thursday after Trump threatened to withdraw Blanche’s name rather than agree to limits on a tax immunity deal benefiting himself and his family, according to The New York Times. The threat followed a day of unsuccessful negotiations between the White House and two Republican senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom are not returning to Congress next year.
In a social media post, Trump said he had no objection to temporarily withdrawing Blanche’s name if the senators did not comply, and reinstating him once Cornyn and Tillis left office. The remarks set off an urgent effort to salvage the nomination, with Tillis and Cornyn meeting privately with Blanche on Thursday afternoon at the offices of the National Republican Senatorial Committee near the Capitol. It was not immediately clear whether the meeting resolved the disagreement.
At the center of the dispute is a deal negotiated by Blanche and Trump’s personal lawyers to settle a lawsuit the president had filed against the Internal Revenue Service. The agreement grants Trump, his family and his businesses broad immunity from IRS audits, potentially saving them more than $100 million in penalties. Democrats and some Republican lawmakers have criticized the arrangement as favoring the Trump family.
Republican Senators Push Back on Todd Blanche Nomination Terms
Cornyn and Tillis are seeking to narrow the scope of the deal before advancing Blanche’s confirmation, asking him to formally confirm in writing what he acknowledged verbally during his confirmation hearing: that the tax protections apply only to Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization, and that they are limited to audits of past returns. The administration has so far declined to put those terms in writing.
The disagreement forced the Senate Judiciary Committee to cancel a scheduled vote on Thursday, since Blanche cannot afford a single Republican defection on the panel. Trump has other options that would allow Blanche, his former personal defense lawyer, to continue serving as acting attorney general indefinitely.
Trump characterized the senators’ opposition as a personal grievance, noting on Truth Social that he had declined to endorse either Cornyn or Tillis in their primaries. Cornyn disputed that framing, telling reporters that a larger group of Senate Republicans shared reservations about the settlement’s scope but faced political risk in voicing them publicly. Tillis separately told reporters at the Capitol that the issue was politically damaging for Republican candidates.
Cornyn also said he had submitted a proposal to the Justice Department that included limits on the audit-protection provision, which he described as a condition for supporting Blanche’s confirmation. He told reporters he believed the two sides had been close to an agreement before renewed complications emerged.
The tax provision, signed by Blanche and dated May 19, directed the IRS to drop existing criminal investigations or audits of Trump, his family, their businesses and “affiliated individuals,” and barred the agency from opening new probes into previously filed returns. Cornyn has said he wants written confirmation that the protection applies only to Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization, that it covers only past returns, and that no other federal agency is bound by the order.
Even with the changes Cornyn is requesting, the arrangement would remain an unusual benefit for a sitting president, given the legal requirement that all Americans comply with federal tax law. Trump and his family have previously faced IRS audits, including one unresolved dispute that could have cost more than $100 million had the agency prevailed.
As of Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee had postponed the confirmation vote, and the Todd Blanche nomination remained unresolved. The standoff is the latest instance of tension within the Trump administration’s broader agenda, which has also included major foreign policy moves such as the US-Saudi nuclear deal.
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