{"id":5965,"date":"2026-08-03T19:41:33","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usglobalnews.com\/2026\/08\/03\/republican-holdouts-say-they-will-back-todd-blanche-for-attorney-general\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T19:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T19:41:33","slug":"republican-holdouts-say-they-will-back-todd-blanche-for-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=5965","title":{"rendered":"Republican holdouts say they will back Todd Blanche for attorney general"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"79d7971c-ea7e-410a-a754-548a01860add\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"two men in suits speak with each other\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/40f4f3ea188cb9847086b0b43beefe6b0cc0fbc3\/510_0_6568_5253\/master\/6568.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"371.90088306942755\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Left, John Cornyn speaks with his fellow Republican senator Thom Tillis during a Senate finance committee hearing on 30 July 2026.<\/span> Photograph: Oliver Contreras\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"79d7971c-ea7e-410a-a754-548a01860add\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Left, John Cornyn speaks with his fellow Republican senator Thom Tillis during a Senate finance committee hearing on 30 July 2026.<\/span> Photograph: Oliver Contreras\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">Republican holdouts say they will back Todd Blanche for attorney general<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Move comes after Blanche gives senators written assurance he will drop Trump\u2019s $1.8bn anti-weaponization fund<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Two Republican senators who threatened to block Todd Blanche\u2019s bid to permanently become USattorney general announced they will advance his nomination after he said in writing that a planned $1.8bn slush fund for Donald Trump\u2019s allies was dead.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/us-senate\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" data-component=\"auto-linked-tag\">US Senate<\/a> judiciary committee is due to vote on Tuesday on whether to approve the nomination of Blanche, who is already acting attorney general, and send it to the wider Senate for a vote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Outgoing lawmakers John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, two key holdouts on the committee who have repeatedly clashed with Trump over the past year, said their concerns were resolved after a \u201csuccessful negotiation of a legally enforceable document\u201d, which was released by Blanche late on Sunday.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"1ed5bfaa-7d31-43f2-b850-d4bab18d4578\" data-spacefinder-role=\"richLink\" data-spacefinder-type=\"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.RichLinkBlockElement\" class=\"dcr-1oq85qr\">\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" data-link-name=\"rich-link-3 | 3\" data-component=\"rich-link\" data-name=\"placeholder\" class=\"dcr-1rx5ky9\">\n<div data-format-theme=\"5\" data-format-design=\"0\" data-format-display=\"0\" class=\"dcr-uyoh2p\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/03\/blanche-formally-rescinds-trumps-18bn-anti-weaponization-fund-ahead-of-nomination-hearing\" class=\"dcr-f35c0u\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-vvxpdt\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6z6e7\">\n<div class=\"dcr-zh9rih\">Blanche formally rescinds Trump\u2019s $1.8bn \u2018anti-weaponization fund\u2019 ahead of nomination hearing<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-oj13vq\">\n<div class=\"dcr-ef9nua\">Read more<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The document formally ends the $1.8bn \u201canti\u2011weaponization fund\u201d, and makes clear that Trump and his family will not receive indefinite protection from audits of future tax filings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Both controversial prospects arose from an agreement reached as part of a settlement in a lawsuit Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the unauthorized leak of his tax returns. A US federal judge who oversaw the lawsuit blasted the arrangement, noting that the US Department of Justice did not make a good faith effort to defend the government, and that it appeared to be a collusive effort to engineer a beneficial result on behalf of the president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Both the fund and the scope of Trump\u2019s immunity from tax audits became dealbreakers for Cornyn and Tillis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cWe are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund,\u201d the senators said in a joint statement. \u201cAdditionally, the department has acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cWe look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate judiciary committee soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Just this weekend, Trump had defended the fund, and threatened to \u201cpush hard\u201d to legislate for it. The fund would \u201cimmediately be back on the table, and I will get it done\u201d if senators fail to approve Blanche\u2019s nomination, the president wrote on social media.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US news<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/trump-administration\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Trump administration<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-senate\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US Senate<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/republicans\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Republicans<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Republican%20holdouts%20say%20they%20will%20back%20Todd%20Blanche%20for%20attorney%20general&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/03\/todd-blanche-attorney-general-nomination?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Faug%2F03%2Ftodd-blanche-attorney-general-nomination&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/aug\/03\/todd-blanche-attorney-general-nomination\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Left, John Cornyn speaks with his fellow Republican senator Thom Tillis during a Senate finance committee hearing on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5967,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}