Blanche’s Nomination in Limbo After Canceled Meeting With GOP Holdouts

Todd Blanche’s chance at becoming attorney general is in genuine jeopardy after  Republican Senator John Cornyn cancelled a meeting with the nominee amid an ongoing standoff over President Trump’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Cornyn was approached by CNN’s Manu Raju in the Senate halls on Wednesday after news that his morning meeting with Blanche had been cancelled.

“So, are you a no? Are you a no tomorrow if this comes to a vote?” Raju asked. 

“Well, [Senate Judiciary Committee Chair] Grassley tells me that we need to know by 4 o’clock this afternoon whether the markup is still on. So we’ve still got a little time,” Cornyn responded. “And hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this, and will be responding.” 

“But if it stands as it is now … right now, would you vote no?”

“I’m not prepared to vote yes, lemme put it that way,” Cornyn said. 

Cornyn, along with Senator Thom Tillis, has been demanding written termination of Trump’s $1.776 slush fund to help his allies. Tillis told Semafor on Wednesday that there’s “no daylight” between himself and Cornyn on the anti-weaponization fund’s termination. 

Even one Republican  “no” vote would effectively kill Blanche’s nomination, as he needs the support of all 11 Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to move forward assuming every Democrat votes no. All Blanche has to do is deliver a written statement assuring them that Trump’s fund is dead—and yet he’s refusing. 

“We’ve still got what, about another five or six hours?  That’s plenty of time to resolve this,” Cornyn continued. “There’s no real need to have a meeting if they will just produce the documentation that we’ve requested—and that he testified to under oath during his hearing.”

“Sir you’ve been incredibly clear with what you would like Todd Blanche to do … for days now,” another reporter asked. “What do you think the holdup is here?”

“Beats me. Maybe they think I’m just going to give up or you know go along, but they’re mistaken.” 
John Cornyn’s demands for written language to kill $1.8B anti-weaponization fund have NOT been met as meeting with Todd Blanche scrapped ahead of key committee vote tomorrow. Blanche has til 4p to respond, or vote could be delayed.

“I’m not prepared to vote yes,” Cornyn told us pic.twitter.com/qLBnXOCkLr
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 29, 2026 ...