Blanche hearing puts Trump IRS settlement back under scrutiny

Todd Blanche’s bid to become attorney general ran into a fresh Senate test after a federal judge blasted the Justice Department’s settlement of Donald Trump’s IRS lawsuit as an improper attempt to secure benefits for the president and his allies.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Blanche said he was not Trump’s “yes man” while defending a deal that would have paired broad tax protections for Trump, his family and related businesses with a since-abandoned $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund.[0] Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Blanche’s answers did not resolve his concerns, because the fund had not been formally rescinded and the tax portion of the settlement remained unresolved.valawyersweekly

The hearing followed a 56-page order from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who found that Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS was not a genuine dispute between adverse parties because Trump oversees the government agencies he sued. Williams barred the parties from citing the settlement in future proceedings and referred lawyers involved in the case to disciplinary authorities.valawyersweekly

The settlement stemmed from Trump’s January lawsuit seeking $10 billion over the leak of his tax records during his first term. A former IRS contractor pleaded guilty in 2023 to leaking tax information, but Williams said the later settlement effort used the court “to earmark billions of dollars from American taxpayers” and to confer immunity on people and entities affiliated with the president.tbsnews

The ruling sharpened the political risk around Blanche’s nomination. Senators in both parties had already questioned whether taxpayer money could flow to Trump allies or January 6 defendants through the fund. Blanche told senators the fund was “dead,” but acknowledged the broader settlement had not been formally withdrawn and said Trump’s lawyers would have to return to court to enforce it.[0]

The Justice Department has not laid out a clear next step for the tax-immunity provision, and outside critics said Congress may still need to act to prevent similar arrangements. For Blanche, the immediate problem is simpler: a confirmation fight that now turns not just on his loyalty to Trump, but on whether senators believe he can separate the Justice Department’s interests from the president’s personal ones.abcnews