President Trump floated temporarily withdrawing Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination to wait out two Republican senators blocking confirmation, a standoff rooted in a $1.776 billion settlement fund neither side will budge on.

Trump took to Truth Social on Thursday to publicly pressure Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom have refused to support Blanche's confirmation over unresolved concerns about the terms of Trump's settlement with the Department of Justice and the IRS. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa had already postponed the committee vote on Blanche's nomination, which had been scheduled for Thursday, after it became clear the two holdouts would not provide the votes needed to advance the pick to the full Senate.

The dispute centers on a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund created as part of a May settlement of Trump's IRS lawsuit. The fund was intended to compensate victims of alleged government overreach. Cornyn and Tillis want written assurances from the administration that the fund will never be reconstituted, and so far, they say, the White House has refused to provide them.

Blanche called the fund "dead", but someone at the White House may disagree

Blanche testified to senators earlier this year that the proposed anti-weaponization fund is dead and will not be coming back. Both Cornyn and Tillis have said they believe Blanche was sincere. The problem, they say, lies elsewhere in the administration.

Tillis told The Hill that the administration's resistance to putting that assurance in writing raises a pointed question:

"We were told that the policy was effectively moot and inoperative. This makes me wonder whether or not, not Blanche, I think he was being sincere, but somebody in the White House or somebody who advises the president isn't."

He added bluntly: "That is horrible policy and its horrible politics." Tillis, who previously set firm conditions for confirming Blanche, has said all along that his support hinges on clarity about the fund's status.

Cornyn echoed that frustration. He told The Hill that the nominee himself is not the obstacle:

"Basically I get the sense that Todd Blanche is not the problem, it's other folks at the White House who are resistant to any changes, any additional documentation. But they need to make a fundamental decision whether they want him confirmed or not."

The back-and-forth over proposed language accelerated in the final days before the scheduled vote. Cornyn received proposed language from the Justice Department late Wednesday and found it unsatisfactory. He sent his own counter-proposal to the DOJ that same night. No agreement followed.

Trump's Truth Social post frames the fight as personal

Trump's Thursday post praised Blanche and cast Cornyn and Tillis as politically motivated holdouts:

"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 then laid out his fallback plan: "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." Both senators are expected to leave Congress in early January. Cornyn lost his GOP primary to a Trump-backed challenger, and Tillis announced his retirement last year.

A Grassley spokesperson confirmed the postponement, telling Just The News: "Tomorrow's markup is postponed as work continues to secure sufficient support in committee to favorably report Attorney General-nominee Todd Blanche, who is highly qualified for the job."

The slim Republican majority on the Judiciary Committee means just one defection could prevent Blanche from advancing. With both Cornyn and Tillis threatening not to appear at the committee meeting, Grassley had little choice but to delay.

Cornyn warns opposition extends beyond two senators

Cornyn pushed back hard on Trump's framing. He posted on X: "POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis." That claim, that other Republican senators share the same reservations, remains unverified. No other senators are named in any reporting as publicly opposing the nomination.

Cornyn also warned that Trump's delay strategy carries real consequences. He told The Hill that without Senate confirmation, Blanche's authority is limited:

"He'll be there as deputy attorney general for the duration [of Trump's second term] but there are some things that the Senate-confirmed attorney general can do that the deputy cannot do. So if they want a fully confirmed attorney general, they're going to have to move."

That timeline matters. Breitbart reported that Trump has vowed to keep Blanche in the acting role until the two dissenting senators leave office next year. But waiting five months to resubmit carries its own risks. If Republicans lose Senate seats in the midterms, Blanche's path to confirmation in 2027 could narrow or close entirely.

Tillis acknowledged Trump's right to pursue the delay but cautioned against it: "He's perfectly entitled to do that, 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."

Under the Vacancies Act, Blanche stays regardless, for now

The federal Vacancies Act, the law governing how long a temporary appointee can serve without Senate confirmation, allows Blanche to remain as acting attorney general for up to 630 days. The New York Post reported that Blanche is only roughly 120 days into that window. So withdrawing the nomination would not remove him from the job immediately.

But Fox News reported a complication: if Trump formally withdraws the nomination, the clock on Blanche's acting tenure could reset, potentially limiting how long he can remain in the role. Under one reading of the law, Blanche could only serve as acting attorney general until late February if the nomination is pulled.

That legal wrinkle makes Trump's threat more complicated than a simple waiting game. Blanche has been an active and consequential figure as acting attorney general, and any gap in leadership at the Justice Department would hand critics a new line of attack.

The standoff also fits a broader pattern of intraparty tension between the White House and Senate Republicans. The Senate has shown a willingness to push back on administration decisions this term, and the Blanche nomination fight is the latest example of GOP senators demanding accountability from their own president's team.

Five months of limbo, or a deal no one wants to make

The core question remains unresolved: will the White House put in writing what Blanche already told senators under oath, that the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund is finished? Cornyn and Tillis say that is all they need. Tillis suspects someone inside the administration wants to preserve the fund as a future option. Cornyn says the White House is "resistant to any changes, any additional documentation."

If no deal materializes, the nomination could drag into September or later, per Cornyn's estimate. Trump could keep Blanche in the acting role, but with diminished authority and no guarantee the political math improves after the midterms. Trump has already fired back at Tillis over the dispute, and Thursday's Truth Social post escalated the confrontation further.

Tillis summed up the impasse with a line that cuts to the heart of it: "It tells me that somebody is telling the president he wants to keep this vehicle in place."

When two Republican senators are willing to confirm a president's pick and ask only for a written promise that matches what the nominee already said under oath, and the answer is still no, the holdout is not in the Senate.