Texas Sen. John Cornyn appears on the fence about Todd Blanche’s nomination to be Trump’s attorney general 47%
By Andrew Schneider0%
7/17/2026, 11:00:15 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 14 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Authority, Confirmation Bias, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 22.4% saturation with 90 hits. Analysis detected 524 faulty-reasoning hits from 402 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 48.4% and a BS Rank of 47% (9,344 of 17,336 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 53.90% of the article peer group.
Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump's nominee for U.S. attorney general and the president's personal attorney, is facing a very close vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The outcome of the vote may hinge on one senator whose reelection hopes were doomed by Trump's intervention: Texas Sen.
John Cornyn.
Cornyn drew an admission from Blanche during his confirmation hearing that Trump could still enforce the Justice Department's one-point-eight billion-dollar "anti-weaponization fund," after Blanche initially said the fund was "dead."
"I'm not going to make a decision until I have to," Cornyn told reporters after Wednesday's hearing.
"I was pointing out that the weaponization fund, which people were concerned about, is not really dead.
He says it is, but he admitted that it could be enforced because this is, essentially, a contract, and it hadn’t been modified by the parties in writing, which is required to change the settlement agreement."
The fund was created in May as a vehicle to settle Trump's lawsuit against the IRS.
It also included a provision immunizing Trump, his family members, and his businesses from IRS audits.
"Blanche actually wrote that as an addendum the next day to his earlier memorandum or order on the anti-weaponization fund," said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.
"Cornyn showed he was quite concerned about that and asked a number of pretty good questions."
Republicans have a majority of one vote on the Judiciary Committee following the death of South Carolina Sen.
Lindsey Graham.
"If they lose one, there's a tie," Tobias said.
"And so, that means the only way you could move the person out is to what's called a discharge petition and have a majority vote on the floor."
Cornyn's hopes for a fifth term in the U.S.
Senate were dashed in May when he lost the Texas Republican primary runoff to state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Trump intervened late in the contest, endorsing Paxton when early voting was already underway.
Since then, Cornyn has been the subject of intense speculation regarding whether he would distance himself from Trump in his remaining months in office — as has Louisiana Sen.
Bill Cassidy, who was also defeated after Trump endorsed his primary opponent.
"I'm certain [Cornyn will] be lobbied extensively and probably by the White House," Tobias said.
"So, we'll see how it goes."
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