Senate Panel Delays Vote on Blanche Nomination Amid Demands for Assurances on Trump IRS Settlement

Todd Blanche’s nomination to serve as attorney general was postponed Wednesday night after the Senate Judiciary Committee canceled a scheduled markup vote. Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis requested additional written assurances concerning the settlement of President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

The two senators sought clarification that the proposed “Anti-Weaponization Fund” would not be established and asked for limits on the tax immunity provisions in the agreement. Cornyn stated he wanted the settlement language revised to apply only to existing audits and to exclude future tax filings by the president. Cornyn, who lost the Republican primary in Texas earlier this year, said the Justice Department had been “stonewalling” and that “the ball is in Blanche’s court.” He told reporters, “We’ve been trying to help them get to a conclusion here and they won’t let us. It’s befuddling to me.”

A committee spokesperson said Chairman Chuck Grassley seeks to prepare nominees for success rather than failure and that Cornyn and Tillis require written assurances from the Department of Justice on the settlement terms. The spokesperson added that the markup was postponed while efforts continue to obtain sufficient support for reporting the nomination favorably. The committee described Blanche as highly qualified for the position.

A federal judge voided the original Trump-IRS settlement in July 2026, ruling that it involved collusion and bad faith between the executive branch parties. That ruling provides the immediate backdrop for the senators’ requests for new written commitments.

In a separate address at a General Motors facility in Michigan, President Trump stated that the White House had ordered 250 Cadillac Escalades for use in presidential motorcades. He said the vehicles were selected because staff members preferred them. The suggested retail price for a standard Escalade exceeds $90,000 before security modifications.

Gas prices have risen nearly one dollar per gallon since President Trump took office, and mortgage rates reached their highest level in nearly a year. An economist cited in recent reporting estimated that the conflict with Iran has cost the average U.S. household more than $1,200. An AP-NORC poll conducted July 23-27 found that approximately two-thirds of U.S. adults believe the war with Iran has not been worthwhile. The figure includes majorities of Democrats and independents and 37 percent of Republicans. The poll was taken during a pause in attacks after nearly two weeks of escalation in which U.S. forces struck Iranian military and commercial sites and Iran targeted U.S. military facilities in the Middle East, resulting in additional American service member deaths. The president’s approval rating on Iran policy declined slightly from the previous month.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his government had denied visas to two U.S. officials who planned to visit Brazil. He accused the officials of intending to interfere in October’s general election. Reuters reported last week, citing Brazilian officials, that the visa requests were rejected because the visitors planned to question the integrity of Brazil’s electoral system. A U.S. State Department spokesperson described the claims as baseless and said the planned visit was routine and consistent with the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor’s statutory mandate.

Former President Barack Obama appeared in a new advertisement endorsing Iowa state lawmaker Josh Turek’s Democratic campaign for the U.S. Senate. The ad shows Obama and Turek, a four-time Paralympian who won two gold medals in wheelchair basketball, shooting baskets on a court. Turek previously installed a basketball hoop on the White House tennis court during Obama’s presidency.

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a resolution expressing opposition to any presidential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence after conviction on sex-trafficking charges related to her association with Jeffrey Epstein.

Marjorie Taylor Greene announced Wednesday that she married Brian Glenn in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Glenn, who has described himself as a supporter of the president’s agenda, resigned as White House correspondent for Real America’s Voice after his fiancée was removed from the president’s circle for advocating release of the Epstein files and criticizing U.S. military actions in Iran in 2025.

Lawyers for former FBI Director James Comey alleged that U.S. Secret Service agents conducted unlawful surveillance of Comey, that President Trump received regular updates on the matter, and that investigators consulted ChatGPT and a known organized-crime figure while seeking grounds to charge Comey over a social-media post depicting seashells arranged to form the numerals “8647.”

The committee is expected to resume consideration of the nomination once the requested written assurances on the IRS settlement are provided. No new markup date has been announced.