Trump Threatens to Pull Blanche Nomination Over Cornyn, Tillis Votes
Trump warns he may temporarily withdraw acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination unless Republican Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis reverse course and support the pick.
WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald J. Trump threatened to withdraw the attorney general nomination of Todd Blanche, blaming two Republican senators for blocking a confirmation vote.
Blanche, the acting United States attorney general since April 2026, would stay in the job even without Senate confirmation, Trump said in the post. Trump singled out Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, two Republicans he declined to endorse, and said he could resubmit the nomination once both leave office.
Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Todd Blanche is a STAR, and everyone knows it! He has the potential to go down as one of the Greatest Attorney Generals of All Time. However, John Cornyn, of Texas, and Thom Tillis, of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to Endorse, and whose political careers have been ended by my action, are refusing to vote for this Great Nominee, who will remain, in any event, as Acting. Remember, both Cornyn and Tillis voted for Merrick Garland, and others, too numerous to mention. 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” on July 30, 2026 at 11:15 AM ET.
The standoff pits the president against two members of his own party who sit on the panel that vets his top law enforcement pick. Blanche led Trump’s criminal defense before joining the administration, and he served as deputy attorney general starting in March 2025 according to justice.gov. He became acting attorney general after Trump dismissed Pam Bondi, and Trump nominated him for the permanent post in June 2026 according to justice.gov.
A former assistant United States attorney, Blanche spent eight years in the violent-crimes division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York according to justice.gov. In private practice he defended Trump in the New York hush-money prosecution and the federal classified documents and election obstruction cases according to justice.gov. His resume and his loyalty now sit at the center of a Republican family fight.
The stakes fall heaviest on Blanche, whose confirmation would cement his authority atop the Justice Department. Cornyn and Tillis stand to gain leverage by withholding their votes, while a stalled nomination lets Blanche keep running the department in an acting capacity. A withdrawal would deny the Senate its chance to weigh in and leave the top law enforcement job filled by a person the chamber never confirmed.
Most Americans interact with the Justice Department through decisions on civil rights enforcement, antitrust cases, and federal prosecutions, and the person leading it shapes those priorities. An acting attorney general who serves without a Senate vote holds the same operational power while facing questions over the durability of major decisions.
This has happened before. Presidents of both parties have kept Cabinet officials in acting roles for extended stretches, and disputes over Senate confirmation have stalled nominees for months. Blanche himself already holds contested authority, serving as acting librarian of Congress since May 2025 in an appointment that Library of Congress staff challenged according to britannica.com.
The Senate Judiciary Committee holds the next move, since it must advance Blanche before any floor vote. A date for a committee vote on the nomination has not been announced.
Presidential clashes with home-state senators over Justice Department picks are not new. Trump invoked Merrick Garland, whom the Senate confirmed as attorney general in March 2021 by a 70-30 vote according to britannica.com. Senate Republicans refused to consider Garland’s 2016 Supreme Court nomination for 293 days according to pbs.org. That earlier blockade denied Garland a seat on the high court and reshaped the confirmation fights that followed.
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