Cornyn says he’s still ‘prepared to vote no’ on Blanche

Senate Cornyn says he’s still ‘prepared to vote no’ on Blanche Comments: by Helen Huiskes - 07/30/26 10:36 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Helen Huiskes - 07/30/26 10:36 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has not changed his mind on Todd Blanche, telling reporters Thursday morning that he was still leaning against advancing his nomination for attorney general in the Judiciary Committee.

It comes amid a standoff between the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), both of whom want assurances from the DOJ that a once-proposed $1.776 legal defense fund for victims of DOJ “weaponization” is permanently dead and that President Trump cannot exempt his family from tax audits.

Cornyn said Thursday night that the DOJ had not produced adequate clarity in writing on closing a legal loophole that could resurrect the fund.

“I think I am prepared to vote no, but I do think I owe it to my constituents and to Mr. Blanche to try to negotiate in good faith,” Cornyn told reporters. “And that’s what we’ve been doing. And so we’ll see where things are this morning and see where we go from here.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), chair of the committee, canceled a meeting to vote on advancing Blanche’s nomination that was scheduled for 9 a.m. EDT Thursday, after hours of meetings among White House officials, Blanche and senators yielded no significant fruit.

Cornyn said Wednesday night the DOJ has “stonewalled” his request.

Trump has said the Texas senator is resisting because Cornyn “doesn’t like” the president. Cornyn will be leaving the Senate in January after he lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger in May, and he’s become a more willing critic of the administration since.

But Cornyn earlier Wednesday called that “a convenient excuse” for Trump’s refusal to give him and Tillis, who is also retiring, what they want.

“I voted with him 99.3 percent of the time. That has nothing to do with it,” Cornyn added Thursday. “This is about making sure that even if you’re the president of the United States, you don’t get favorable terms from the government in a settlement of a lawsuit that ordinary citizens would not get, like protection from audits by the IRS into the foreseeable future.”

When asked, Cornyn said Trump had not called him or talked to him about the Blanche issue but suggested it would help.

“He could fix this in a minute,” Cornyn said. “But I don’t know whether … who he’s listening to or whether he’s motivated to do that. So, we’ll see what happens.”

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