AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
President Donald Trump decided this week that he does not need the support of Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn to have Todd Blanche serve as his attorney general.
Read more Wake County turns public land into 200 affordable homes. What’s behind the push?
Both Republican senators refuse to confirm Blanche out of committee until they get in writing an agreement from Blanche and the White House to reject a $1.776 billion fund that would allow people convicted of crimes at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 to apply for restitution.
Trump is not wrong that he does not need Senate confirmation for Blanche to continue serving as acting attorney general.
U.S. Code 508, which governs vacancies, states that a deputy attorney general — the position Blanche had before Trump nominated him for attorney general— “may exercise all duties of the office” in the event the attorney general’s position is vacated.
Trump fired former Attorney General Pam Bondi on April 2 and Blanche took her place.
Carl Tobias, a law chair at the University of Richmond, told McClatchy on Thursday that “there may be some challenge to certain appointments and dismissals of officials, such as U.S. Attorneys, that Blanche might attempt to make.”
However, Tobias pointed to an in-depth analysis written by Eric Columbus, senior editor of Lawfare, to look at the ins and outs of Blanche continuing to serve, without Senate approval.
Columbus notes that even if Code 508 didn’t exist, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 does, and allows Blanche to serve for 210 days from when Bondi left the job. And then, another 210 days after the Senate returns his nomination to Trump, if it were to fail.
Columbus calculates that that would give Blanche until Aug. 1, 2027, well pass the date that Tillis and Cornyn will retire from the Senate.
But 508 supersedes the Federal Vacancies Reform Act.
Before Blanche’s nomination can go before the Senate for a full confirmation vote, he needs his nomination to pass out of the Committee on the Judiciary.
That committee is made up of 12 Republicans and 10 Democrats, the latter who will vote no.
Both Tillis and Cornyn serve on that committee and are not budging on their demands over the 1776 fund, meaning Blanche cannot get confirmation.
Tillis, Cornyn and Blanche spent all day Wednesday going back and forth on language to meet the senators’ demand.
But Wednesday night, Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, announced he would cancel a 9 a.m. vote Thursday to confirm Blanche because his committee did not have the votes.
On Thursday morning, Tillis and Cornyn told reporters that Blanche was negotiating in good faith, but they understood someone in the White House was blocking the path forward. They said they were trying to figure out who that someone was.
That someone made himself known moments later in a social media post.
“Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it,” Trump posted to Truth Social. “He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time.”
The president then said he ended Tillis and Cornyn political careers.
Tillis, who lives in Huntersville, chose not to seek reelection after publicly sparring with the president over the impact Trump’s policies would have on North Carolina’s Medicaid recipients.
Trump endorsed Cornyn’s primary opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who won the that election and will face off against Democratic candidate James Talarico, a state representative in Texas.
Read more ‘Exceptional’ estate with sweeping views for sale in the NC mountains
Trump said in his post that regardless Blanche will remain “acting” attorney general.”
“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,” Trump posted.
The president walked that post back 24 hours later stating, “Todd Blanche, a good man, should be immediately approved as U.S. Attorney General.”
In Trump’s latest post he also defended both the 1776 fund and the people who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, resulting in widespread damage, around 140 injuries and the resulting deaths of five law enforcement officers. Another four civilians died from a gunshot, two heart attacks and a drug overdose.
“Perhaps there has never been a group of people treated so badly in our Nation’s history,” Trump said of the Jan. 6 protesters, justifying the fund. “They are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them. … I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!”
On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump told his supporters during a rally to march to the U.S Capitol. When they did, some broke in and took over the building in an attempt to stop the election certification of President Joe Biden.
Some also called for former Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged for refusing to stop the certification.
Since the formation of the 1776 fund, Tillis has called it “stupid on stilts,” and said it is “tyranny” to use taxpayer money to pay back people who hurt police officers and were later pardoned by Trump for their actions.
On Friday morning, Tillis responded on social media to Trump’s statements.
“The President made it clear today that the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund is still alive, which is exactly why we are attempting to formally end it,” Tillis said. “While I never disagreed that the Biden Administration pursued a number of vindictive prosecutions related to January 6, the criminals who assaulted police officers and defiled our nation’s Capitol are not ‘great American patriots’ who are ‘victims of movement abuse.’ Anyone who attacked law enforcement should still be in prison, not getting a check from the federal government.”
After Trump threatened to pull Blanche’s nomination until Tillis and Cornyn’s retirement, Tillis warned Trump that he should be careful because he has a numbers problem that doesn’t end with the two senators.
Sens. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, and Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, also announced their hesitance to confirm Blanche. Four Republican opposition votes on the Senate floor, along with the full body of Democrats, is a death sentence for a confirmation. And Trump is banking on Republicans winning in Tillis’ and Cornyn’s districts, while polling numbers aren’t reflecting that probability.
“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,” Tillis told The Hill.
Tillis is not opposed to Blanche serving as attorney general, has been complimentary of Blanche and said Blanche’s work with Tillis and Cornyn has been “forthright, thoughtful and patient.”
“It’s a shame his confirmation has hit a snag only because an incompetent personal adviser to the President refuses to amend the bogus settlement,” Tillis posted.
While Blanche can continue working in the role without Senate approval, he does lose out on a sizable pay raise without it.
Adding complications to the mix, Columbus notes, a nominee who is twice rejected for the job by the Senate is prohibited from being paid.
“I will continue working in good faith to put an end (to) this legal and political albatross and prevent any potential misallocation of taxpayer dollars,” Tillis said.
Read more NC women’s prison employee accused of having sex with inmate
This story was originally published July 31, 2026 at 12:17 PM.