On Wednesday night, the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed a vote on Todd Blanche's nomination as attorney general after two Republican members raised concerns about President Donald Trump's flagrantly corrupt "settlement" of his bogus lawsuit against the IRS. Blanche, currently the acting attorney general, signed off on that cozy arrangement, which included $1.8 billion in taxpayer money for the president's supporters and a sweeping promise of immunity from liability for tax violations and any other federal offenses that Trump or his family may have committed.
By itself, Blanche's central role in that jaw-dropping scam would be enough reason to reject his nomination, since it shows he is so eager to please Trump that he is willing to abandon legal ethics, shirk his official duties, and make a joke of the civil justice system while pretending all of this is business as usual at the Justice Department. But Sens. John Cornyn (R–Texas) and Thom Tillis (R–N.C.), whose objections derailed the committee vote, seem willing to forgive those egregious lapses, provided Blanche agrees to constrain the huge favors he approved for his boss.
