Cornyn and Tillis Block Blanche's AG Nomination Over Trump's $1.776 Billion Fund, Trump Threatens to Pull Nomination Until They're Gone

The standoff

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche needs all 11 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance his nomination. He doesn't have them.

Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina are withholding their votes, and the Judiciary Committee's planned vote to advance Blanche has stalled as a result, according to The New Republic. Both senators are outgoing: Cornyn lost his Texas primary by nearly 30 points after Trump backed his opponent, and Tillis announced in June he won't seek a third term in 2026.

President Trump responded Thursday by threatening to pull Blanche's nomination entirely, then renominate him once Cornyn and Tillis are out of the Senate at the start of next year, according to Common Dreams. In an early Friday morning Truth Social post reported by The Mirror, Trump accused Cornyn of only turning on the fund after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, writing that Cornyn "never had a problem with the so called 'Fund'" until Trump backed a rival candidate who "easily won the Nomination."

What the fight is actually about

At the center of this is a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," created as part of a settlement resolving Trump's lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns, according to The Mirror. The fund was designed to compensate Trump allies who say they were unjustly investigated or prosecuted under the Biden administration.

Cornyn says Blanche testified under oath at his July 15 confirmation hearing that the fund is dead and that IRS audit immunity tied to the settlement doesn't extend beyond the parties in the lawsuit. The problem, according to comments Cornyn made and reported by The New Republic, is that none of that is in writing.

"What I want is the written document to say the same thing he did in his sworn testimony," Cornyn said, according to The New Republic. "I don't know why they're so reluctant to do that when he's already sworn to it."

Tillis wants the same written commitment, plus limits on IRS audit protections for Trump and his family that were part of the settlement. He also previously demanded Blanche meet with Jeffrey Epstein survivors before he'd support the nomination. Blanche did meet with survivors earlier in July, but survivor and anti-trafficking educator Elizabeth Stein described it as "demoralizing," telling reporters, according to The New Republic, that "it just felt like more political posturing and using survivors the way that we've been used as political pawns."

Tillis has also argued the fund is a political liability heading into the 2026 midterms. "It makes no sense to me," he told NOTUS reporter Igor Bobic, according to Common Dreams. "This is not popular. The president's not winning on this issue. It is killing some of our candidates because they can't explain it. And now it looks like they weren't being honest when they said it was inoperative."

The hypocrisy charge, and the fair counter

Fox News highlighted a wave of conservative anger at Cornyn and Tillis, noting both men voted to confirm Merrick Garland as Biden's attorney general in 2021 and, at the time, praised him as experienced and capable of depoliticizing the DOJ. Garland's DOJ went on to indict Trump twice, prosecute pro-life activists under the FACE Act, and reportedly examine traditionalist Catholic groups, moves conservative critics call politically motivated.

Mike Howell of the Oversight Project called the pair's current objections "pitiful" given that record, and Breitbart's Matthew Boyle argued Cornyn's primary loss proved conservative criticism of him "1000 percent correct."

That criticism is fair as far as it goes: both senators did vote for Garland, and Garland's DOJ record with Trump-related prosecutions is a matter of public record, not dispute. But it doesn't answer the actual question Cornyn and Tillis are asking. Should a nearly $1.8 billion government-backed fund and IRS audit immunity for a sitting president's family be locked in only by verbal testimony, or does it belong in a written, enforceable agreement? That's a question about process and accountability, separate from how either senator voted on Garland five years ago.

Where this leaves Blanche

On the other side, Common Dreams and The New Republic gave voice to progressive critics who want the nomination killed outright, not fixed. Joel Payne of MoveOn Political Action called Blanche's record "corrupt and indefensible," and House Judiciary Committee Democrats' account said Blanche "sealed his fate" by refusing to disavow the fund and by supporting what they termed a "family-sized super pardon" tied to Trump and his businesses. Those are political attacks from Democrats who were never going to support Blanche anyway, and they don't change the math: this fight is being decided entirely by two Republicans.

No committee vote has been scheduled to succeed the stalled one as of Friday, July 31. The open question is whether Trump gets Blanche a written commitment killing the fund before January, when Cornyn and Tillis leave office and, on Trump's own timeline, no longer stand in the way.