WATCH: Blanche says he and Trump did not discuss IRS deal
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said he and President Donald Trump did not discuss the Justice Department’s settlement to end a $10 billion lawsuit by Trump against the Internal Revenue Service over the leaking of his tax returns.
The settlement included the creation of a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people who say they were victims of government “weaponization.” The fund was scrapped after bipartisan criticism. On Monday, a federal judge said Trump’s lawsuit was filed for an “improper purpose” that misused the court system.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, asked Blanche during his confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee whether he had spoken to Trump about the settlement.
“No. I did not. He had outside counsel. I did not discuss it with his outside counsel either,” Blanche said. “It was done by other people in the office.”
Blanche added that he spoke with Trump about the settlement when they determined the case would not move forward — “when it was dead.”
Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show.
Sign up for Here’s The Deal with Lisa Desjardins: https://to.pbs.org/41q6E8i
Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
X: http://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newshour/
