Republican presses Blanche on Trump-IRS settlement at Senate hearing
Source: Reuters
By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Andrew Goudsward
WASHINGTON, July 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's attorney general nominee, Todd Blanche, faced tense bipartisan questioning at a U.S. Senate panel on Wednesday about the rollout of the Epstein files and a settlement that gave the president sweeping tax immunity.
Blanche, the president's former personal lawyer, was pressed by Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas about the Justice Department's decision to settle Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service by creating a since-abandoned $1.8 billion fund to compensate Trump allies for alleged prior government mistreatment along with an associated order shielding Trump and his family businesses from facing tax audits over prior conduct. Cornyn is undecided on supporting Blanche.
Blanche acknowledged that the fund, which drew fierce bipartisan criticism, has not been formally rescinded, but said Trump's lawyers would have to go to court to enforce the settlement, something Blanche said they had no plans to do. He defended the tax portion of the deal as standard practice in IRS settlements, though tax experts have described the immunity for Trump as highly unusual.
Blanche in his opening statement touted his record reducing violent crime and combatting fraud in public benefits programs. He also defended efforts to correct what he described as past wrongdoing by the Biden administration, when the Justice Department brought two criminal prosecutions of Trump.
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republican-presses-blanche-on-trump-irs-settlement-at-senate-hearing/ar-AA27YYzn
Maybe you shouldn't have primaried Cornyn Donny Boy.
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