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Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) pointed to weaknesses in President Trump’s influence in Congress amid opposition from three outgoing Republican senators to the president’s nomination of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to a permanent role overseeing the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Sens. Thom Tillis (N.C.), Bill Cassidy (La.) and John Cornyn (Texas) have all expressed skepticism about Blanche’s nomination amid questions about the status of a controversial “anti-weaponization fund” created under his watch.
“I don’t see him being confirmed at least certainly through the end of the year, honestly,” Fetterman told CNN’s Kasie Hunt on Friday. “Trump has zero leverage, whether it’s Cornyn or Cassidy or Tillis or these senators that are leaving.”
Tillis and Cornyn hold critical votes required to advance Blanche’s nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the acting attorney general can lose only one Republican vote.
During a confirmation hearing before the committee earlier this month, Blanche assured lawmakers that the nearly $2 billion fund was “dead.”
However, Cornyn told reporters outside the hearing room that he was not satisfied with the administration official’s testimony about the status of the fund.
He noted changes to the settlement agreement that created the fund requires “written consent of the parties” — a condition that has yet to have been met.
“I think it’s really important to correct the record, which I tried to do, and I think he was straightforward in answering my questions, but they don’t lead inevitably to the conclusion that it’s dead,” he told reporters on July 15. “It could be revived at a future date.”
If Blanche’s nomination makes it all the way to the Senate floor for a full member vote, Blanche will need the support of all but two GOP senators, assuming unilateral opposition from Democrats to his appointment.
Sen. Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) ongoing absence from Congress during his recovery from a fall last month also complicates this effort.
“The math’s just not there, and there’s certainly not any Democrats that’s going to support this,” Fetterman told CNN Friday afternoon.
Trump said Thursday that he would consider temporarily rescinding Blanche’s nomination until Cornyn and Tillis are out of office in January.
Cornyn pointed out that their absence would not be an assurance that the acting attorney general would have a better chance, noting to reporters Thursday on Capitol Hill that a Democrat could very well fill his seat in November.
“I mean, he may think that he’s got us where he wants us,” Cornyn said. “But the fact is, there’s no guarantee who the senators are going to be that will replace Sen. Tillis and myself, and he may have a weaker hand next year than he does now, and it’s unfortunate because we tried not to escalate this fight.”
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Bill Cassidy Donald Trump John Cornyn John Fetterman Mitch McConnell Thom Tillis Todd BlancheCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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