2 GOP holdouts cloud Todd Blanche’s path to attorney general

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche heads into a Senate Judiciary Committee vote Thursday with two key Republican senators still withholding support for his nomination to be the next U.S. attorney general. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina say they need written changes to an IRS settlement tied to the now-disputed “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” The dispute centers on a May agreement under which President Donald Trump dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS after the administration set up a $1.776 billion fund for people who say they were wrongly targeted under Joe Biden. Blanche later signed an addendum that would block continuing IRS audits of Trump, his family and their companies, drawing bipartisan criticism over self-dealing and possible taxpayer payouts tied to Jan. 6 rioters.