Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche arrives to speak during a news conference at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building on April 07, 2026 in Washington, DC.
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President Donald Trump on Thursday said he is open to “temporarily withdrawing” Todd Blanche’s nomination as U.S. attorney general until after two Republican holdouts, Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, leave office next year.
Trump floated that possibility in a Truth Social post after excoriating the GOP senators over their continued refusal to back Blanche, the current acting AG, due to lingering concerns about the Department of Justice’s controversial settlement of the president’s lawsuit against his own IRS.
Cornyn quickly replied on X that Trump “is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.”
Trump’s post came hours after the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which Cornyn and Tillis are both members, postponed a vote on Blanche’s nomination that was planned for Thursday.
“Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it!” Trump wrote. But Cornyn and Tillis are “refusing to vote for this Great Nominee, who will remain, in any event, as Acting.”
The president took credit for having “ended” the political careers of Cornyn and Tillis, who are both leaving office in January. Cornyn his Republican primary race in Texas in May, after Trump endorsed his challenger, state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Tillis, of North Carolina, announced last year that he would not seek reelection.
“Remember, both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland, and others, too numerous to mention,” Trump wrote in the post, referring to former President Joe Biden’s AG pick, who was confirmed 70-30 in the Senate in 2021.
Trump added, “I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd’s name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office.”
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas (L) and Sen. John Tillis, R-NC (R)
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