The Todd Blanche Affair: The Trump-Congress Clash Intensifies

Tensions are high between President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans – and it isn’t all over the chamber’s failure to pass some form of the SAVE America Act. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was officially nominated to lead the Department of Justice (DOJ) on June 8 after serving as acting AG since April 2, remains another point of contention. Two Senate Republicans refuse to confirm him without certain assurances, and President Trump isn’t willing to give them. Now, the commander-in-chief is talking about pulling Blanche’s nomination until the less cooperative senators are gone – and they will be, soon.

The Todd Blanche Affair

After months of escalating tension over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, among other issues, President Trump sent Attorney General Pam Bondi home and appointed Deputy AG Todd Blanche to take over. It wasn’t all roses and sunshine for the new sheriff in town, however. Too many – on both sides of the aisle – remembered his time as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and worried he might be more loyal to Trump than to the independence of the Department of Justice.

In April of 2023, as Donald Trump faced classified documents charges in Florida, obstruction charges in DC, and a “hush-money” trial in New York, Blanche took over as his lead defense attorney. He remained Trump’s personal lawyer until the Senate confirmed him as Deputy Attorney General in March 2025. He was confirmed by a party-line vote of 52 to 46, with just one Democrat and one Republican not voting – and it might have seemed his eventual AG confirmation vote would go much the same.

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But then the conflict began. Democrats, of course, were never going to support a Trump nominee – but a few things have happened since Blanche joined the DOJ that cost the president crucial GOP support.

Trump promoted Todd Blanche to acting AG on April 2 of this year, and some of his first acts as the man in the big chair were to have the DOJ reach an out-of-court settlement between the IRS – which it was representing against Trump – and the president to resolve the civil lawsuit over the leak of his tax returns. On May 18, Blanche signed the order establishing the immediately controversial $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which would compensate individuals deemed victims of vindictive government prosecutions. A day later, he issued a secondary order permanently barring the IRS from auditing the Trump family and its businesses.

Burning Bridges in the Senate

The IRS deal was immediately unpopular with lawmakers of both parties, who saw it as a way for the president to circumvent their authority to dole out public funds. And it had immediate consequences. Back in May, the GOP majority in both chambers seemed primed to pass the $72 billion reconciliation bill to fund ICE and CBP. Instead, Republicans balked. The leaders of both majorities dropped the issue and left for Memorial Day recess.

President Trump eventually said he was canning the fund, and the reconciliation bill eventually passed – but the hard feelings and skepticism never did. Add to that the conflict over the SAVE America Act, and things have been tense between the president and the 119th Congress.

Today, Todd Blanche needs a positive recommendation from the Senate Judiciary Committee before his nomination is considered by the full chamber. The current committee has a 12-10 Republican majority, but two of those senators – Tom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas – refuse to support him.

“This is being done by a senator, and I don’t really blame him to be honest with you. I endorsed his opponent,” President Trump said regarding Sen. Cornyn during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Friday, July 31. “The man that lost, the man that I didn’t endorse, has become very angry, and that’s OK.”

“I mean, I understand that,” he continued. “I probably would do the same thing.”

Cornyn and Tillis both want assurances that the proposed anti-weaponization fund is, in fact, dead and that Trump and his family aren’t immune to tax audits, and they refuse to support Blanche’s confirmation until they get it.

But they won’t get it – and time is running out for them to have any say in the matter at all. Cornyn was defeated in his primary by Texas AG Ken Paxton – whom Trump did, in fact, endorse – and Tillis announced his retirement last summer. When lawmakers come back for the 120th Congress in January, these two gentlemen won’t be among them. 

Now, the president has a new plan: Either the Senate confirms Todd Blanche as full Attorney General, or he’ll pull the nomination and leave him acting in the role until the two holdouts are gone.

Can he do that? In a word, yes. But with some caveats.

Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, an acting Cabinet official can generally only serve in that capacity for 210 days from the date of the vacancy. Since Bondi was ousted in April, that would give Blanche a theoretical limit ending around late October or early November. But, while a nomination is actively pending – as it is now – that timer is paused.

This could still be a problem for the president’s plan, but another law – the Attorney General Succession Act – governs the DOJ separately. When there’s a vacancy in the AG’s office, it allows the duly appointed and confirmed deputy attorney general to “exercise all the duties of that office.” There’s no expiration date, and courts have generally allowed deputy AGs to serve as acting AGs for much longer terms.

Still, this leaves every decision by Blanche more vulnerable and subject to constant litigation by Democrats. So why not just leave the nomination on the table and wait it out? Well, while many Republicans would be content to just let it simmer, Democrats almost certainly wouldn’t be – and the aforementioned lame duck senators might not be, either.

“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 Thursday. Cornyn and Tillis both sit on the Judiciary Committee, which won’t recommend Blanche to the Senate floor for confirmation with a 10-10 vote if these two withhold their support – and certainly not with a 12-10 vote should they actively side with the committee Democrats.

Just as bad – or perhaps worse – Senate Democrats could force a vote on Blanche’s nomination knowing there isn’t sufficient support in the chamber, leaving President Trump with an official rejection on the record.

Pulling Blanche’s nomination explicitly just to resubmit it in January is risky, sure, but it’s less dangerous than allowing the minority to force a public rejection if they can manage it. But it’s also a power play and show of dominance over two opponents who won’t be returning in January. It sends a powerful message that neither man can ignore: You aren’t as important as you think you are, and I don’t need your permission. The real gamble for the president is how the rest of the Senate GOP will take that message.