Todd Blanche’s prospects in the Senate tepid — but far from doomed — ahead of confirmation hearing

WASHINGTON (CN) — Top Senate Republicans who could make or break Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general appear to be keeping their options open this week ahead of what is sure to be a high-pressure confirmation hearing with President Donald Trump’s pick to replace Pam Bondi.

But at least one GOP lawmaker who could serve as a spoiler to Blanche’s prospects — Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina — has signaled that the attorney general nominee has not yet crossed one of his key red lines: support for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer and deputy attorney general currently serving in an acting role as the Justice Department’s top official, will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee next month for a confirmation hearing. He is likely to face tough questions from both Republicans and Democrats about how he proposes to lead an agency that has seen its historical independence from the White House eroded under Trump’s second administration.

He’s been through this process once before. But while Blanche faced little meaningful opposition to his nomination as deputy attorney general, he’s riled some Senate Republicans in recent weeks who have vocally criticized the Justice Department under his leadership.

So far, however, some of the GOP’s more skeptical voices are withholding their judgment.

Texas Senator John Cornyn, who has edged away from Trump following his bruising primary loss to state Attorney General Ken Paxton, told reporters on Tuesday that he’d met with Blanche and that the nominee had answered all his questions. But the lawmaker was cagey when asked where he stood following the meeting.

“I’m going to make a decision after the nomination hearing,” said Cornyn, who sits on the Judiciary Committee.

In a statement, the Texas senator said he’d had a “positive” interview with Blanche and that the would-be attorney general committed to “further briefing” on a recent settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service over the 2019 leak of his tax returns.

Tillis, another crucial vote on the upper chamber’s judicial affairs panel, said that he planned to sit down with Blanche next week. The North Carolina senator said that his support for the nominee would be at least partially affected by the status of the Justice Department’s controversial “anti-weaponization” fund.

The agency has said it terminated the roughly $1.8 billion slush fund, which emerged from the IRS settlement and was designed for victims of so-called government “weaponization,” after Senate Republicans expressed concern it could be used to issue payments to violent criminals.

But Tillis also signaled that Blanche’s approach to the Jan. 6 riot would not be a major factor influencing his decision on the nominee.

“I haven’t seen anything that, from a Jan. 6 perspective, would be a problem,” the North Carolina Republican told reporters.

Tillis has previously stood in the way of some Trump nominees over their stance on the Capitol riot. The senator last year singlehandedly sank the nomination of Ed Martin as U.S. attorney for D.C., citing the conservative activist’s complaints about over-prosecution of Jan. 6 defendants. Tillis, though, has also shown a willingness to bend that red line, voting last summer to confirm Third Circuit nominee Emil Bove despite that nominee’s past comments that Jan. 6 prosecutions were a “grave national injustice.”

Still it’s unclear whether the Capitol riot will factor into Tillis’ key Judiciary Committee vote on Blanche. The North Carolina Republican was one of the loudest critics of the weaponization fund, worrying that money could end up in the hands of rioters who breached the Capitol and assaulted law enforcement.

As acting attorney general, Blanche has also overseen steps to vacate seditious conspiracy convictions and other charges against a dozen members of right-wing groups involved in the Jan. 6 riot, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. The Justice Department in April asked a federal court to dismiss those convictions, saying the move was “in the interests of justice.”

Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley offered his own endorsement of Blanche after meeting with the nominee Monday afternoon.

“I appreciated the opportunity to sit down again with Todd Blanche, who’s spent the last year and a half supporting President Trump’s mission of law and order as deputy attorney general and now acting attorney general,” Grassley said in a statement. “Blanche is prepared to build on that success and continue working hard to keep American families safe as the next Attorney General.”

Blanche’s nomination hearing was scheduled for July 15, roughly a month from now. The acting attorney general on Tuesday submitted his first set of required paperwork to the Judiciary Committee.

Follow @BenjaminSWeiss