By MICHELLE L. PRICE and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday he may pull acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination for the full-time post to avoid making concessions to Senate Republicans demanding limits to a sweeping tax immunity agreement and potential payouts for Trump allies that the president negotiated with his own Department of Justice.
Trump doubled down on choosing his former personal lawyer as the nation’s top lawman, calling him “a STAR” and saying he will keep him in the role as acting attorney general until Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina leave office.
“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,” Trump posted on his social media site.
Cornyn and Tillis, who both leave office next year, have sought additional assurances in writing spelling a final end to an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” created to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.
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The two senators, who are not returning to Capitol Hill next year, have also pressed Trump’s administration to modify the controversial settlement that afforded the Republican president and members of his family protection from tax audits to make clear that it covers only existing audits and does not protect him from examination of future tax filings.
Trump’s comments came after the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a planned vote on Thursday to advance Blanche’s nomination. With all Democratic senators opposed, just one Republican holdout on the committee could sink Blanche’s prospects for confirmation.
Cornyn, in a social media post Thursday, wrote that Trump is “mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.”