Donald Trump has threatened to "temporarily" withdraw his bid to permanently install Todd Blanche, his former personal lawyer and current acting attorney general, as the US attorney general amid resistance from Republican senators in Congress.

Blanche’s nomination has stalled as he struggles to secure the support of all Republican senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee. A key holdout, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, has publicly stated he will not back Blanche without written confirmation that a previously planned $1.8 billion slush fund for the president’s allies is definitively dead. Blanche himself has said for weeks that the slush fund portion of the agreement is no longer active.

Trump criticized Senators Cornyn and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom he refused to endorse and whose political careers he claims to have ended, for blocking Blanche’s confirmation. Trump called Blanche a "STAR" with the potential to be one of the "Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time" and said he has "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."

The president’s refusal to officially end the controversial tax immunity agreement, which grants him broad immunity and created the $1.8 billion fund, highlights his prioritization of self-interest in government decisions. Republican senators have sought written limits on the settlement, but Trump has held firm despite the risk to Blanche’s confirmation.

Negotiations continue, but so far Cornyn and Tillis have not received the explicit, written modifications they seek to permanently eliminate the slush fund and alter Trump’s audit immunity provisions.

Blanche’s confirmation hearing was postponed late Wednesday night, and Trump used his social media platform Truth Social to publicly pressure the holdouts on Thursday morning.

Sources