Key GOP Holdouts Agree To Back Todd Blanche For Attorney General

WASHINGTON — Two key Republican holdouts have agreed to back Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, clearing the path to his confirmation following days of dramatic and public negotiations.

Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas put out a statement on Monday announcing that they had successfully negotiated a “legally enforceable document,” gaining clarity from Blanche on the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as well as the IRS audit. They thanked Blanche and his team for working with them and said they are looking forward to “voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon.”

“From the outset, we were clear that we needed a written document addressing our concerns on the IRS audit agreement and the anti-weaponization fund that included constraining the scope of audit protection by limiting it to the parties of the Settlement Agreement and legally ending the anti-weaponization fund,” Tillis and Cornyn announced.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) answers questions from reporters trailing after him following a vote in the U.S. Capitol on July 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“We are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund,” they added. “Additionally, 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.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on Tuesday on Blanche’s confirmation, and a full Senate floor vote is expected later this week.

The news comes after President Donald Trump suggested last week that he might pull Blanche’s confirmation until the two Republicans blocking his way had departed the Senate.

“Remember, both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland, and others, too numerous to mention,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Thursday. “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.”

The president described Blanche as a “star” with the “potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time,” slamming Cornyn and Tillis for refusing to vote for Blanche.

The senators had threatened to derail Blanche’s nomination over the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, a plan the DOJ said it had abandoned after pushback from lawmakers and after a Clinton-appointed judge had issued a temporary restraining order on the fund in May. Last Wednesday, Cornyn told Punchbowl News that the DOJ’s written proposal did not satisfy his demands.

“They know what they need to do, but they simply refuse to do it,” Cornyn said, sharing that he had cancelled a scheduled meeting with Blanche.