Cornyn meeting with Blanche canceled ahead of key Judiciary Committee vote

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Wednesday said his scheduled meeting with attorney general nominee Todd Blanche was canceled and that he's 'not prepared to vote yes' on advancing Blanche out of the Judiciary Committee on Thursday. Cornyn, who has been pressing for a resolution to a controversial Department of Justice 'anti-weaponization' fund, told reporters that Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told him he needed to know by 4 p.m. whether Thursday morning's scheduled vote could proceed. 'So we still got a little time, and hopefully they now recognize the seriousness of this, and will be responding,' he said. Just one GOP 'no' vote could bottle up Blanche's nomination in committee. 'We've still got, what, about another five or six hours. That's plenty of time to resolve this, but there's also a, you know, there's no real need to have a meeting if they will just produce the documentation that we've requested.' Cornyn, along with Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), a fellow Republican on the Judiciary panel, have pushed the Department of Justice to renegotiate a settlement with President Trump. Without written verification of the DOJ's decision not to pursue the fund, the two are refusing to commit to voting in favor of Blanche's confirmation. Asked what he thinks the holdup is, Cornyn responded, 'Beats me. Maybe they think I'm just going to give up or, you know, go along, but they're mistaken.'