Two Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee, who lost their seats after defying President Trump, threatened on Wednesday to block Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general over a deal he cut to settle Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the I.R.S.
The senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, accused Mr. Blanche of refusing to put on paper his promise to kill aspects of the deal. In June, Mr. Blanche said he would drop a proposed $1.8 billion fund to compensate purported victims of Biden-era actions by the Justice Department but said a related provision shielding Mr. Trump and his family from tax investigations would remain in place.
Mr. Cornyn scrapped a scheduled meeting with Mr. Blanche on Wednesday morning and told reporters staking out his Capitol Hill office that he was unsure whether a committee vote scheduled for Thursday would take place.
He said he was not “prepared to vote yes” and gave the department until 4 p.m. to produce clear written guarantees on the fund and tax deal. It is possible the vote could be postponed, Mr. Cornyn added.
He reiterated the demand after the Senate Republican lunch. “Why don’t you call over the Department of Justice and tell them they have one hour and 50 minutes to get me what I asked for?” he said. “We actually sent them a red-line strikeout of what we need, and they just need to make a decision.”
Mr. Blanche, who can continue as acting attorney general indefinitely, cannot afford to lose a single Republican vote. He appears, for the moment, to be two short.
Mr. Tillis expressed solidarity with Mr. Cornyn but appeared to be considerably more sanguine that the two sides would reach an agreement that would clear a path for a floor vote on confirmation.
“We’re trying to work just to get the language,” Mr. Tillis told reporters. “I really do believe it’s just a drafting exercise. I don’t believe that we’re apart in terms of the objective.”
He added that he believed the central issue was “the remaining language on the audit” deal with the I.R.S. and suggested that Mr. Cornyn was already comfortable with “language related to rendering the 1776 fund inoperative.”
Justice Department officials have been in communication with Mr. Cornyn’s staff over the past week. An administration official with knowledge of those exchanges was under the impression that Mr. Blanche had addressed many of Mr. Cornyn’s concerns about the exemption, which could result in a $100 million windfall for Mr. Trump and his family.
But Mr. Cornyn, a former state judge who lost a primary to a Trump-backed challenger, Ken Paxton, said he had received no written assurances from Mr. Blanche that the audit shield would not apply to future tax liabilities or be extended to a wide circle of people.
He said he was mystified why Mr. Blanche had not sent him a clearly drafted commitment to “revising” the tax deal.
Mr. Cornyn said he did not know what the holdup was, but he did not rule out that Mr. Trump was intent on keeping a tax-immunity deal in place.
“I can see why he wants it, because it provides immunity from audits no other taxpayer would get,” Mr. Cornyn added.
During Mr. Blanche’s confirmation hearing this month, Mr. Cornyn joined Democrats in questioning Mr. Blanche’s independence from White House control and ultimately refused to commit to supporting his nomination.
While politely praising Mr. Blanche’s public service, he said it was a very difficult position “to be the president’s personal lawyer, and then to end up being a member of the cabinet.”
