NOW PLAYING
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is warning that President Trump’s threat to withdraw Todd Blanche’s nomination to serve as attorney general and resubmit it in 2027 to circumvent GOP critics could backfire because control of the Senate could flip in November.
Asked by a reporter Thursday whether it would be “risky” to delay Blanche’s nomination until the next Congress, Kennedy responded: “Well, duh. Yeah.”
“This place could be very different,” Kennedy said, noting that Democrats could pick up seats in the Senate or win control of the upper chamber.
Senate Republicans now control 53 seats.
Trump on Thursday threatened to withdraw Blanche’s nomination because Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) are threatening to block it in the Judiciary Committee unless the Department of Justice and Trump agree to revise or clarify a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to establish a $1.8 billion legal compensation fund for MAGA allies.
“Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it! He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time. However, John Cornyn, of Texas, and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this Great Nominee, who will remain, in any event, as Acting,” Trump posted on Truth Social Thursday.
Cornyn, who lost his Republican primary reelection race to Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Tillis, who decided not to run for re-election, will retire from the Senate by the end of the year.
A new Fox News poll of Texas, however, shows that Democratic candidate James Talarico is leading Paxton in the Texas Senate race by 3 percentage points and another Fox News survey of voters in North Carolina shows Democratic candidate Roy Cooper with a 9-point lead over Republican Michael Whatley.
Tillis on Thursday said Trump needs to be careful about assuming that Republicans would have the votes to confirm Blanche next year and urged the president instead to agree to a deal with Cornyn to add language to the settlement with the Justice Department and IRS to permanently scrap the proposed “anti-weaponization” fund.
“He’s perfectly entitled to do that,” Tillis said of Trump’s threat to delay Blanche’s nomination.
“He just needs to game out what the numbers look like in the next Congress versus a willing group of people who wants to confirm him now if they do nothing more than follow up on what we all thought was true, that [the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund] is inoperative,” Tillis added.
Trump on Friday lashed out against Cornyn for holding up Blanche and opposing the establishment of a fund to compensate MAGA allies who say they were unfairly prosecuted by the Biden-era Justice Department.
The president accused the Texas senator of being sore about his endorsement of Paxton in the Texas GOP primary.
“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called ‘Fund,’ which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags John Cornyn John Kennedy Thom TillisCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Senate News
See All
National Security Pulte lingers as intel chief while senators say it’s time for ‘the temp’ to move on by Rebecca Beitsch 2 hours ago National Security / 2 hours ago 
