{"id":744,"date":"2026-07-29T17:39:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744"},"modified":"2026-07-29T17:39:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T17:39:37","slug":"senators-put-blanche-on-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744","title":{"rendered":"Senators put Blanche on deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has until 4 p.m. Wednesday to appease two GOP holdout senators and unlock a key vote scheduled for tomorrow morning that would bring him a step closer to heading the Justice Department permanently.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=742\">Jay Clayton confirmed as director of national intelligence<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he is waiting for Blanche and the DOJ to nail down modifications to a controversial DOJ settlement that created a $1.8 billion \u201cweaponization\u201d compensation fund. Cornyn said he was supposed to meet with Blanche Wednesday morning, but the meeting didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Senate Judiciary Committee is still currently scheduled to vote on Blanche\u2019s nomination Thursday morning. Cornyn said Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, gave him until 4 p.m. to work out a deal, otherwise they would have to postpone the vote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to help them get to a conclusion here, and they won\u2019t let us. It\u2019s befuddling to me,\u201d Cornyn said of DOJ.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The settlement announced in May was brokered by Blanche, who is currently overseeing the Justice Department as acting attorney general. Although Blanche told Cornyn at his confirmation hearing that the fund was \u201cdead,\u201d Cornyn wanted greater assurances on its scope.<\/p>\n<p>The so-called \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund was created as part of settling President Donald Trump\u2019s $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service tied to the release of his tax returns during his first term in office. Its terms also immunize Trump and his family from tax audits.<\/p>\n<p>Cornyn said he wanted modifications to the fund in writing but DOJ has not been \u201cresponsive.\u201d He said he specifically wanted DOJ to clarify the scope of the settlement\u2019s tax audit immunity, including the extent to which plaintiffs would be protected by federal agencies other than the IRS or Treasury Department.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who shared Cornyn\u2019s concerns about the fund, was also not a guaranteed vote for Blanche. Tillis said Wednesday that Cornyn is not \u201cwalking away from it\u201d but rather being \u201crealistic about planning a markup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tillis said he\u2019s relying on Cornyn, a former Texas attorney general, to give him \u201cthe technical interpretation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=740\">2 Democrats advance to runoff in Georgia special election<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a game being played here. I think that Blanche genuinely wants to get it done because he recognizes it as the distraction that it is,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cIt may mean that he\u2019s got to go through and tell the boss or somebody else to sign off on it. But none of this is secret.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tillis is retiring at the end of this term. Cornyn, who ran for reelection but lost in a bitter primary battle after Trump endorsed his opponent Ken Paxton over him, is also not returning to Congress next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Tillis added that Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., who sits on the committee, is currently out of Washington to attend funeral services for her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, which could further complicate the math.<\/p>\n<p>Cornyn and Tillis hold considerable sway on the committee since Republicans can afford to lose only one GOP senator if all Democrats vote against Blanche.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t read any sort of ultimatum \u2014 Senator Cornyn is not that sort of person anyway,\u201d Tillis said. \u201cYou probably get that from me, but not him.\u201d It\u2019s more of a practical matter, he added.<\/p>\n<p>Blanche was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday and met with at least one GOP senator who does not sit on the Judiciary Committee: John Curtis of Utah. Blanche did not answer questions about the meeting when he departed.<\/p>\n<p>The committee vote is not completely make-or-break for Blanche. Without a favorable report, a confirmation vote on the floor could still go ahead, but it would require more procedural steps.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And experts say he could remain as acting attorney general for many months, if not longer, depending on the consent of Senate Republican leadership and the interpretation of federal statute.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=738\">Sen. Lindsey Graham leaves the Capitol a final time<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Nina Heller contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has until 4 p.m. Wednesday to appease two GOP holdout senators and unlock a key vote scheduled for tomorrow morning that would bring him a step closer to heading the Justice Department permanently.&nbsp; Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he is waiting for Blanche and the DOJ to nail down [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Senators put Blanche on deadline - American Industry Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Senators put Blanche on deadline - American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has until 4 p.m. Wednesday to appease two GOP holdout senators and unlock a key vote scheduled for tomorrow morning that would bring him a step closer to heading the Justice Department permanently.&nbsp; Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he is waiting for Blanche and the DOJ to nail down [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Industry Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-29T17:39:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\"},\"headline\":\"Senators put Blanche on deadline\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-29T17:39:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744\"},\"wordCount\":684,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7488a158cfb21f2821838447eff67e9d.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744\",\"name\":\"Senators put Blanche on deadline - American Industry Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7488a158cfb21f2821838447eff67e9d.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-29T17:39:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7488a158cfb21f2821838447eff67e9d.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/7488a158cfb21f2821838447eff67e9d.jpg\",\"width\":1620,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"UNITED STATES - JULY 29: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, nominee to be Attorney General, leaves a meeting with Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Bill Clark\\\/CQ Roll Call)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?p=744#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Senators put Blanche on deadline\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Industry Review\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/americanindustryreview.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Senators put Blanche on deadline - American Industry Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Senators put Blanche on deadline - American Industry Review","og_description":"Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has until 4 p.m. Wednesday to appease two GOP holdout senators and unlock a key vote scheduled for tomorrow morning that would bring him a step closer to heading the Justice Department permanently.&nbsp; Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said he is waiting for Blanche and the DOJ to nail down [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744","og_site_name":"American Industry Review","article_published_time":"2026-07-29T17:39:37+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd"},"headline":"Senators put Blanche on deadline","datePublished":"2026-07-29T17:39:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744"},"wordCount":684,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7488a158cfb21f2821838447eff67e9d.jpg","articleSection":["Congress"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744","name":"Senators put Blanche on deadline - American Industry Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7488a158cfb21f2821838447eff67e9d.jpg","datePublished":"2026-07-29T17:39:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7488a158cfb21f2821838447eff67e9d.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7488a158cfb21f2821838447eff67e9d.jpg","width":1620,"height":1080,"caption":"UNITED STATES - JULY 29: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, nominee to be Attorney General, leaves a meeting with Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, in the Hart Senate Office Building on Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (Bill Clark\/CQ Roll Call)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?p=744#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Senators put Blanche on deadline"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/","name":"American Industry Review","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f31b66192ea99275704b1c4c1195d2bd","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/americanindustryreview.com"],"url":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/americanindustryreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}