Wait Them Out: Trump’s Threat to Shelve Blanche’s Nomination Until Two Senators Are Gone

The Blanche nomination has produced an unusual proposition from the White House: rather than meet two Republican senators’ demands, President Donald Trump suggested Thursday he might simply withdraw his acting attorney general’s name and put it forward again after those senators have left office.

He posted on Truth Social that he has no objection to temporarily pulling the nomination if the holdouts do not do what he considers the right thing, and resubmitting it once John Cornyn and Thom Tillis are out.

Both men leave the Senate at the end of this term. Neither appears especially moved by the prospect.

What Broke Down

The Senate Judiciary Committee scrapped Thursday morning’s scheduled vote late Wednesday night, once it became clear the votes were not there. Republicans hold a narrow committee majority, and with Democrats united in opposition, either senator alone can produce a tie — which does not advance a nomination.

Cornyn’s account of what happened is notable for where he places the blame. He said he and the Justice Department were essentially on the same page, and that things fell apart once the president learned of it. Both senators suggested the White House, rather than the department, was preventing an agreement.

The Settlement at the Heart of It

The dispute traces to Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax records. Blanche oversaw its settlement in May.

Under the terms, the government agreed to establish a $1.776 billion fund to compensate people claiming to be victims of politically motivated prosecution. A related document barred IRS enforcement action against past federal tax returns filed by Trump, his family and associated entities.

The fund drew immediate bipartisan outrage, in part because compensation could plausibly have reached defendants charged over January 6. The Justice Department announced in June that it was no longer proceeding with it. A federal judge reviewing a challenge to the arrangement described it in scathing terms, characterising it as self-dealing.

The audit immunity provisions, by contrast, remain in force. Blanche has said the department intends to honour them.

What the Senators Actually Want

Cornyn clarified his position Thursday afternoon, and it is narrower than much of the coverage has implied.

He said he does not need the settlement language rewritten. What he wants is a written document confirming that the tax audit immunity does not extend to affiliated organisations belonging to Trump and his family that were never parties to the lawsuit.

By his description, the request amounts to a single additional piece of paper restating what Blanche already said under oath at his confirmation hearing. He said that would satisfy both him and Tillis, and that the refusal to provide it is what makes him doubt the department’s seriousness. Balking at putting a sworn statement in writing, he argued, suggests the settlement was meant to cover more than officials are willing to say aloud.

Blanche has consistently resisted written affirmations, including on the fund, telling senators repeatedly that it is dead and not moving forward.

A Warning Shot From Cornyn

Cornyn responded to the president’s post the same day with a short message of his own: Trump is mistaken if he thinks concerns about the settlement’s provisions stop with him and Tillis.

That is worth reading carefully. It is a claim that other Republicans share the objection but have not said so publicly — which, if accurate, would undercut the entire wait-them-out strategy. Replacing two departing senators with more compliant successors does not help if the discomfort is broader than two people.

The Political Arithmetic

Both holdouts are unusually insulated. Cornyn lost his primary this year to a Trump-endorsed challenger. Tillis is retiring and has clashed with the administration before, including over Blanche’s handling of matters connected to Jeffrey Epstein — he had earlier said he would not vote to confirm unless Blanche met with survivors, a meeting that subsequently took place.

Neither faces a future election in which presidential endorsement matters. That is the structural reason this standoff exists at all.

Then the Meeting

Trump’s threat did not end the day. Hours after the post, Blanche met with both senators — the first such meeting of the week, following several Cornyn cancellations.

A person familiar with the discussions said the two sides returned to working collaboratively. Where the negotiations actually stand afterward is unclear, and nobody involved has characterised the outcome publicly.

That sequence — a public threat in the morning, a private meeting in the afternoon — suggests the withdrawal talk functioned as leverage rather than as a settled decision.

Why the Stakes Are Lower Than They Look

One fact keeps this from being a genuine crisis for the administration: Blanche stays either way.

He has run the Justice Department in an acting capacity since April, following his tenure as Trump’s personal defence attorney, and has aggressively pursued administration priorities in that role. Under the statute used to install him, he could potentially remain through the end of the term without ever being confirmed.

Confirmation would give him a firmer institutional mandate and remove questions about his authority. It is not a prerequisite for doing the job.

That asymmetry cuts both ways in the negotiation. The White House can afford to wait, which reduces its incentive to concede. But the senators can also afford to wait, since they are not asking for anything that requires their own political survival.

The Timeline

The Senate is about to depart for its August recess, which means a postponed markup could sit untouched for weeks. Some analysts think the nomination may not move before September, if it moves at all.

For a resolution to arrive sooner, someone has to produce the document Cornyn has described — or Cornyn has to decide he no longer needs it.

Neither looked likely on Thursday morning. By Thursday evening, the parties were talking again. Which is roughly where this fight has been for weeks: close enough to a deal that both sides keep meeting, far enough from one that nobody schedules a vote.