July 30 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would not object to the idea of temporarily withdrawing the nomination of Todd Blanche to serve as U.S. attorney general, and then re-nominating him, after two Republican senators who have been holding up the nomination leave office.
“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 said in a social media post, referring to Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
The two senators have been seeking written assurances from the Justice Department that a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” Trump sought would not be made operational. That fund could benefit Trump allies who say they were unfairly targeted in the past by the federal government for their involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The senators also had objections to a deal that would prevent tax audits of Trump and his associates.
They both are due to leave office in early January.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan in Washington, Bhargav Acharya and Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; editing by Andy Sullivan, Will Dunham and Susan Heavey)
