Trump's AG pick survives — for now — as Republicans question if White House deal will hold
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department survived a crucial hurdle on Tuesday after reaching an agreement with key holdouts, but whether he reaches the finish line remains...
By Fox News · Fox News
President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department survived a crucial hurdle on Tuesday after reaching an agreement with key holdouts, but whether he reaches the finish line remains an open question. The Senate Judiciary Committee, after last-minute delays and drama, confirmed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in a 12-10 vote, sending him to the Senate floor for his final test. His success on committee remained in the air until the weekend, when a deal to win over Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, was announced. And the duo accepted the terms of the deal, which would permanently rescind the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund and narrow the scope of Trump and his family’s audit immunity — two major components of his settlement with the IRS that Blanche rolled out earlier this year. TRUMP'S AG PICK OFF LIFE SUPPORT AFTER KEY REPUBLICAN REBELS RELENT Some lawmakers, however, are questioning the agreement and whether Trump will actually comply. Tillis said of the anti-weaponization fund that, "we've got enough data in the record to know it's rescinded." But he acknowledged that, "Other people are asking about the audit component, but it's another area where I put a lot of faith in John Cornyn." "I think that he believes that we're at a place where it's narrowly defined, and it would be very difficult for anybody to construe it as some sort of get out of audit free — for any kind of future — I know it's retrospective, it is not prospective," Cornyn said. "And I believe that only the parties to the agreement may be in a position to be exempted. So, that's, you know, that's enough for me," he continued. DOJ BARS IRS FROM AUDITING TRUMP’S PRIOR TAX RETURNS IN SETTLEMENT ORDER SIGNED BY BLANCHE The duo’s colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee have a divided outlook on the nature of the deal, given Trump’s desire to revive the fund and because the audit immunity wasn’t fully buried. "Cornyn and Tillis seem to have gotten nothing m…