Blanche nomination in peril as key GOP senator rails on DOJ over controversial fund

Todd Blanche's nomination to be President Donald Trump's attorney general is hanging in the balance with a key GOP senator saying the Justice Department has not done enough to assure him a controversial $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund won't move forward. The pushback from Texas Sen. John Cornyn comes as the Senate Judiciary Committee has been planning to advance Blanche's nomination on Thursday — but without Cornyn's support, the vote will fail. 'Why don't you call over to the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for?,' Cornyn told reporters as the deadline closed in. 'We actually sent them a red line strikeout of what we need, and they just need to make a decision, and if they do, then we'll proceed with the markup tomorrow. We're trying to make it easy for them. They won't take the help.' A DOJ official told CNN the department 'provided a written proposal to Senator Cornyn's staff yesterday following ongoing discussion with both the Committee and the Senator's office. We look forward to further discussion around any outstanding concerns.' However, Cornyn told reporters earlier on Wednesday that he hasn't 'seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I've requested.' Survivors of the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were on Capitol Hill on Wednesday urging lawmakers, including Cornyn and Tillis, to vote against Blanche's nomination to lead the Justice Department. 'It's not political. Just do the right thing. Be on the right side of history here,' one survivor, Dani Bensky, told reporters. Tillis insisted the Justice Department should be able to come to an agreement with himself and Cornyn. He told CNN: 'My office has been in touch with Blanche's staff over the last hour. So, we're trying to work just to get the — I really do believe it's just a drafting exercise. I don't believe that we're apart in terms of the objective.' Tillis argued the 4 p.m. deadline should not be seen as an ultimatum. 'I think that's probably for planning purposes, for the markup tomorrow. It's not like that Senator Cornyn's walking away from it. He's just being realistic about planning for a markup.'