{"id":8177,"date":"2026-07-29T23:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T23:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/trumps-attorney-general-pick-faces-possible-republican-roadblock\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T23:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T23:38:11","slug":"trumps-attorney-general-pick-faces-possible-republican-roadblock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/trumps-attorney-general-pick-faces-possible-republican-roadblock\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s attorney general pick faces possible Republican roadblock"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><em>Todd Blanche, Trump\u2019s former defence lawyer, has faced scrutiny over his alleged loyalty to the US president.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Interim United States Attorney General <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/8\/trump-nominates-todd-blanche-as-attorney-general-setting-up-senate-fight\">Todd Blanche<\/a> is facing a possible roadblock from within the Republican Party as he faces a confirmation hearing to formally lead the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Republican Senator John Cornyn said he was still sceptical about confirming Blanche\u00a0to the top federal law enforcement position in the country.<\/p>\n<section>\n<h2>Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n<p><span>list of 3 items<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span>list 1 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/12\/us-judge-extends-block-on-trumps-1-8bn-anti-weaponisation-fund\">US judge extends block on Trump\u2019s $1.8bn \u2018anti-weaponisation\u2019 fund<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 2 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/6\/15\/california-governor-newsom-says-us-department-of-justice-investigating-him\">California Governor Newsom says US Department of Justice investigating him<\/a><\/li>\n<li><span>list 3 of 3<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/2\/trump-administration-renews-pressure-on-international-criminal-court\">Trump administration renews pressure on International Criminal Court<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not prepared to vote yes,\u201d said Cornyn.<\/p>\n<p>The senator\u2019s comments come a day before a key committee vote in the US Senate to move Blanche\u2019s nomination forward.<\/p>\n<p>Cornyn cited concerns about Blanche\u2019s current stewardship of the Department of Justice, which he has led in an acting capacity since April.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, Blanche served as deputy attorney general, and before joining President Donald Trump\u2019s second term, he worked as the Republican leader\u2019s criminal defence lawyer.<\/p>\n<p>But Cornyn has questioned a rare settlement Blanche brokered in May, in response to a lawsuit Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).<\/p>\n<p>Under the deal, Trump and his family would be shielded from future IRS audits. The scheme also created a so-called \u201canti-weaponisation fund\u201d, under which individuals deemed to have faced alleged political persecution could seek financial compensation.<\/p>\n<p>Blanche has backed away from the \u201canti-weaponisation fund\u201d amid bipartisan backlash. Critics had described it as a slush fund that would benefit the president\u2019s allies.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, a federal judge also <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/13\/us-judge-voids-trumps-irs-settlement-alleges-self-dealing\">ruled<\/a> the settlement illegal, accusing Blanche of double-dealing by working on behalf of both the federal government and Trump as a private citizen.<\/p>\n<p>During his confirmation hearing, Blanche again assured lawmakers that the fund was dead, but Cornyn said he was awaiting written guarantees on the matter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t seen a single piece \u2060of writing that is responsive to what I\u2019ve requested,\u201d Cornyn told reporters.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"committee-vote-looms\">Committee vote looms<\/h2>\n<p>Cornyn spoke before the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to hold a Thursday vote on Blanche\u2019s nomination, the first step in a wider Senate debate on his confirmation.<\/p>\n<p>All Republicans on the committee would need to vote in favour of Blanche for him to progress to the broader confirmation hearing.<\/p>\n<p>While Republican lawmakers have generally been wary of opposing Trump, Cornyn has become an increasingly public critic of the president in recent months.<\/p>\n<p>Trump endorsed Cornyn\u2019s primary opponent, former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in May. Paxton went on to win the Republican Party\u2019s nomination in May, allowing him to progress to the midterm election in November.<\/p>\n<p>That race will see Paxton take on Democratic upstart James Talarico in what is expected to be one of the closest Senate races of the season.<\/p>\n<p>Cornyn will leave the Senate, where he has served for more than two decades, at the end of his term in January.<\/p>\n<p>In an Oval Office news conference on Wednesday, President Trump was asked about Cornyn\u2019s reticence about approving Blanche for the attorney general role.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u200aWell, all I can say is Todd Blanche is outstanding,\u201d Trump said, before questioning Cornyn\u2019s motives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe John Cornyn\u2019s upset with me because I didn\u2019t endorse him. I don\u2019t know what it is, but I haven\u2019t heard that there\u2019s a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Critics have accused Blanche of placing his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2026\/7\/15\/todd-blanches-loyalty-to-trump-questioned-in-senate-confirmation-hearing\">loyalty to Trump<\/a> above all else, including by using the Department of Justice to prosecute the president\u2019s political adversaries.<\/p>\n<p>Under Blanche\u2019s watch, for instance, the Justice Department chose to file a second indictment against James Comey, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, over a social media message made of seashells.<\/p>\n<p>Blanche has denied any claims that his relationship with Trump presents a conflict of interest, saying he acts independently of the president.<\/p>\n<p>However, he did little to shed the perception during a mid-July hearing before US lawmakers. Senator John Kennedy, a Republican, asked at the time if Blanche considered Trump a \u201cfriend\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m his lawyer,\u201d Blanche replied, before quickly correcting himself to say \u201cwas his lawyer\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice has had a long tradition of prosecutorial independence, whereby criminal charges are not meant to be influenced by politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Todd Blanche, Trump\u2019s former defence lawyer, has faced scrutiny over his alleged loyalty to the US president. Interim United States Attorney General Todd Blanche is facing a possible roadblock from within the Republican Party as he faces a confirmation hearing to formally lead the Department of Justice. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Republican Senator John &#8230; <a title=\"Trump\u2019s attorney general pick faces possible Republican roadblock\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/2026\/07\/29\/trumps-attorney-general-pick-faces-possible-republican-roadblock\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Trump\u2019s attorney general pick faces possible Republican roadblock\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pronews.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}