John Cornyn

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn, newly freed from concerns about political reprisals, said Monday he would support acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination after holding it up to extract written commitments from the Justice Department.

Cornyn and Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina withheld their votes until the department confirmed it had killed a proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund benefiting President Donald Trump’s allies and narrowed audit protections for Trump and his family.

Cornyn said he has tried to stand on principle throughout his career in Texas but acknowledged his primary loss earlier this year has made it easier to defy Trump.

“I certainly didn't have to worry about any political repercussions,” Cornyn told The Dallas Morning News. “I'm not just going to look to be a thorn in his side, but when he does things that I don't agree with, I'm going to speak up.”

“It's important to have a Senate-confirmed attorney general at the Department of Justice and I think Todd Blanche was forthcoming and responsive to what we asked of him and so we were satisfied with that,” Cornyn said.

The fund was intended to help settle a Trump lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and compensate people the president said were targeted by previous Democratic administrations.

After bipartisan pushback, Trump officials indicated the fund was dead. The president kept defending the concept, however, raising concerns it would be resurrected.

Cornyn and Tillis wanted written commitments that the fund would stay dead. They also objected to part of the settlement that provided broad protection for Trump and members of his family, shielding them from tax audits.

Under the deal struck with the senators, the Justice Department also said the tax audit language “applies by its terms only retroactively” rather than exempting Trump from future audits.

Trump has sharply criticized Cornyn for holding up the nomination, linking the senator’s opposition to his primary defeat after Trump endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Paxton beat Cornyn in the GOP runoff by a significant margin in May. Trump suggested Cornyn has become a “very angry person” as a result of his defeat.

“He lost because of me,” Trump said of Cornyn last week. “I endorsed somebody else. As soon as I endorsed the other person, the other person became a rocket ship upward.”