UPDATE: Cornyn and Tillis CAVE, Formally Announce Support of Todd Blanche’s Confirmation

The RINOs have officially caved.

On Sunday night, Acting AG Todd Blanche announced that his team had finally struck a deal with two Senate holdouts — John Cornyn and Thom Tillis — who were trying to derail his confirmation.

We covered that deal in detail here:

BREAKING: Todd Blanche On Track for Confirmation After Striking Deal with RINO Holdouts

Following Blanche’s announcement, Sen. Cornyn and Sen. Tillis have now formally announced that they will be backing Blanche’s confirmation as Attorney General.

The two outgoing Senators released a joint statement on X stating that they will vote to advance his nomination.

Read it here:

From the outset, @SenThomTillis and I were clear that we needed a written document addressing our concerns on the IRS audit agreement and the anti-weaponization fund that included language constraining the scope of the audit protection by limiting it to the parties of the…

— Senator John Cornyn (@JohnCornyn) August 3, 2026

From the outset, @SenThomTillis
and I were clear that we needed a written document addressing our concerns on the IRS audit agreement and the anti-weaponization fund that included language constraining the scope of the audit protection by limiting it to the parties of the Settlement Agreement and ending the anti-weaponization fund.

We are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund. Additionally, the Department has acknowledged in a binding written document that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share.

We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of @SenJudiciaryGOP
soon.

This marks an end to a weeks-long standoff between the RINO Senate holdouts and President Trump over Blanche’s confirmation.

Fox News reported further:

Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., have for weeks dug their heels into the ground against confirming acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to fully take over the position. They have been trying to extract concessions from the administration in exchange for their votes.

ADVERTISEMENT

And those concessions came on Sunday as Blanche’s first key test fast approaches. After warring with Trump and Blanche’s confirmation nearly being withdrawn, the duo are now ready to support the president’s pick to replace former Attorney General Pam Bondi.

“We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” they said in a joint statement.

Cornyn and Tillis had two primary objectives: ensure, in explicit writing, that the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund would not return, and that Trump’s audit immunity would not extend beyond him and the defendants listed in his lawsuit against the IRS.

Blanche announced on Sunday that the anti-weaponization fund was getting the permanent boot, and that the audit protection was going to be narrowly tailored to Trump and his family.

Cornyn and Tillis said they “are pleased” with the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) formal order to deal with both issues, and noted that doing so addressed “concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share.”

Both issues came from the settlement deal Trump and his family reached with the IRS earlier this year that Blanche helped to roll out.

And both lawmakers are needed to advance Blanche out of committee and onto the Senate floor, given that if either one of them balked against the nominee, he would fail and be stuck in limbo.

Now that this hurdle is cleared, Blanche should be swiftly confirmed. But, will not be able to afford losing any Republican votes.

The vote to advance Blanche’s nomination is scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley announced:

Judic Cmte is ready to vote on Todd Blanche's nomination Tuesday 9AM

Blanche is right pick for Atty Gen &our country is safer w him leading DOJ Thx Pres Trump+ Blanche+ Sens Cornyn & Tillis for working thru the wkend w me to get the votes to advance this well qualified nominee

— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) August 3, 2026

This clip from Fox News also provided additional coverage:

BREAKING: GOP Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis announce they have reached an agreement with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the proposed anti-weaponization fund, clearing the way for his confirmation.

The senators had opposed Blanche over the Justice Department's… pic.twitter.com/YaWYfhjvkG

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 3, 2026