STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
President Trump’s nominee for attorney general has finally canceled an order that got him in trouble with some senators.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche released a letter last night. He says he’s rescinding a plan to create a $1.8 billion fund for President Trump’s political allies. Two Republicans have been demanding that action in writing. They had been blocking his nomination to hold the job permanently.
INSKEEP: NPR’s Claudia Grisales has been covering the action in the U.S. Senate. Claudia, good morning.
CLAUDIA GRISALES, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve.
INSKEEP: OK. So what did the acting attorney general say in writing this time, and what’s it mean for his confirmation?
GRISALES: Right. This order was just issued a few hours ago. It rescinds this controversial effort the administration dubbed the, quote, “anti-weaponization fund.” This is part of a deal that was made with the Internal Revenue Service under Trump’s administration. Now, Trump threatened to revive the fund just this weekend if two Republican senators – that’s Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina – would not back off their objections to this fund.
But there’s a lot more elements to this deal that remain controversial. That includes a provision that would have protected Trump and his family from past tax audits. So while this may address a major hurdle that has held up this confirmation on the senate judiciary committee, plenty of other questions remain.
INSKEEP: Yeah. And here’s another question. I’ve been reading Blanche’s letter that came out overnight. It’s mostly in the present tense. He says the fund, quote, “is not moving forward,” for example. He doesn’t say this fund was bad or inappropriate. He doesn’t say what he would do if his boss orders him to revive it next week. And you just said Trump still spoke in favor of it this past weekend. Are senators persuaded by any of this?
GRISALES: That’s the big question now. This letter may address, again, those concerns for Cornyn and Tillis, who are on the Judiciary Committee, but Blanche still faces a lot of concerns that are not clear, making not clear that he has enough support on the Senate floor from Republicans to get that confirmation. And as we know, Republicans are operating with tight margins, so it doesn’t take much to derail a vote in that chamber.
And while all the focus has been on Cornyn and Tillis because of their roles on this committee, it’s a new ball game when we talk about a whole of the Senate Republican conference. And so we should also note the administration has resisted for weeks to go this far. So this is still a lingering issue for many, and it’s just one of several items causing headaches between the administration and Republicans in Congress.
INSKEEP: What’s another?
GRISALES: Well, a big part of this comes back to Trump’s push for the SAVE America Act. That’s a GOP bill that would require proof of citizenship and photo ID to cast a ballot. Trump has blamed Senate Majority Leader John Thune for not getting a lot of this done, even if it means getting rid of the filibuster. And this past week, Trump was asked whether he was confident in Thune, and he did not give a ringing endorsement.
INSKEEP: How’s Thune responding to that pressure?
GRISALES: Well, he is not exactly taking his lumps and going home. He’s been consistent that the votes are not there to pass the SAVE America Act, and they are not going to get rid of the filibuster. Trump has wanted them to stay in for the month of August, but Thune has said that would not be productive, either.
INSKEEP: Claudia Grisales, thanks so much.
GRISALES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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