As his nominee for attorney general hangs in the balance, President Donald Trump dug in on Friday, defending a controversial settlement that has angered some Republicans in the Senate.
It further upended Todd Blanche’s bid to permanently lead the Justice Department, as senators look for a path forward after canceling a planned Judiciary Committee markup this week.
“This has nothing to do with Todd,” Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting Friday. “He should be approved forthwith.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, one of the GOP holdouts, agrees on at least one point: “I think Todd Blanche is about as good a nominee as you’re going to get from this administration. So it’s really not about him.”
He and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., want to see changes to a settlement that Blanche brokered between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year that granted the president immunity from tax audits. That deal also established a $1.8 billion fund designed to compensate people harmed by government “weaponization.”
