{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/video-cornyn-votes-to-advance-blanche-nomination-for-attorney-general-in-judiciary-committee/", "VIDEO: Cornyn Votes to Advance Blanche Nomination for Attorney General in Judiciary Committee", "2026-08-04", "2026", "2026-08", "Republican", "Senate", "TX", "John Cornyn", "C001056", "www.cornyn.senate.gov", "cornyn", "https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 Today in the Senate Judiciary Committee, U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) delivered the following remarks before voting to advance the nomination of Todd Blanche to be U.S. Attorney General out of committee and to the Senate floor. Excerpts of Sen. Cornyn\u2019s remarks are below, and video can be found here.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been very clear, as others have, that in order to support Mr. Blanche\u2019s nomination, I needed specific assurances in writing about a release signed by the Acting Attorney General last May.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhile this may sound like nitpicking to some, it\u2019s critically important, not only to me but to other members of the Senate.\u201d\n\n\u201cThis past Sunday, Senator Tillis and I came to an agreement after numerous meetings with the Department of Justice and Mr. Blanche on an agency-interpretative guidance document that reaffirms what Mr. Blanche said in his sworn testimony in front of the committee. This document will help limit the substance and scope of the audit protection to the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, and it limits the parties to the audit settlement to the plaintiffs \u2013 the people who brought the lawsuit \u2013 and no one else.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe DOJ has repeatedly said that this is their legal position and interpretation.\u201d\n\n\u201cGiven this agreement with Mr. Blanche, I expect the Department to live up to this in future litigation, and I will vote to advance him out of the committee today.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe need a stabilizing force at the Department of Justice, and Mr. Blanche deserves the opportunity to provide that.\u201d\n\n\u201cPresident Trump needs someone in this role, as well, with a strong legal mind, but who also is close enough to him to give him confidential legal advice, to tell him hard truths.\u201d\n\n\u201cI would advise Mr. Blanche not to be afraid to capitalize on that earned trust when necessary for the good of the country.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019m glad we could address these issues here in committee so that this nomination can move forward.\u201d", 1, "2026-08-05T07:37:37Z", "2026-08-05T07:38:44Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/news/video-cornyn-votes-to-advance-blanche-nomination-for-attorney-general-in-judiciary-committee/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.5963981859385967, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}