By BILL BARROW and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Friday she will oppose Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general, narrowing the confirmation path for President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department.
The Alaska senator, who joins GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in opposing Blanche, cited the Justice Department’s handling of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, a sweeping tax audit immunity deal for Trump and a proposed $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate the Republican president’s allies.
“The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration. I hope Mr. Blanche is able to achieve that, if confirmed, but I simply do not have confidence that will be the case,” Murkowski said.
Murkowski said she is concerned the Trump administration could proceed with its proposed fund to compensate people who believe they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted by the Justice Department even after Blanche formally rescinded it. Murkowski said the Senate has leverage over the fund only because Blanche’s nomination is pending.
“Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds,” she said.
With Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky not attending Senate sessions, Blanche can only afford to lose two Republican votes if all Democrats oppose him. And another key Republican, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, has not said how he will vote.
The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Blanche’s nomination only after a deal reached last weekend with two other Republican senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — who had been threatening to block his confirmation over the settlement of Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service regarding the president’s leaked tax returns.
Cornyn and Tillis backed Blanche’s nomination after Blanche rescinded the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” writing in an order “beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.”
But Democrats say Blanche’s order doesn’t go far enough to prevent the Trump administration from reviving the fund after the acting attorney general’s confirmation and have called for legislation to permanently bar it. Trump has repeatedly defended the fund and has threatened to push forward with it if Republicans don’t support Blanche’s nomination.
Cornyn and Tillis had also pressed for clarification on a separate part of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits.
Under the deal, the Justice Department clarified in writing that the tax audit immunity agreement applies only to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect Trump from examination of future tax filings. It also makes clear that only the parties that brought the lawsuit — Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization — are covered by the tax agreement.