Thom Tillis Tells Todd Blanche What He Must Do to Earn His Support for AG

The nomination of Todd Blanche as attorney general of the United States is going to be a close call if he gets that far. Vice President JD Vance better be ready to cast the tie-breaking vote, because the situation isn’t looking good. Blanche’s nomination, along with a host of key GOP bills, is now in doubt after the passing of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who proved to be an invaluable player in keeping many pieces of legislation from falling apart.

Blanche had his confirmation hearing this week. It wasn’t the most intense in terms of sparring sessions with Democrat senators. They’re not the issue—it’s the Republicans. Sen. John Cornyn (R-T.X.), who lost a runoff for another term, is undecided. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-K.Y.) isn’t present, though he might’ve been a "no" vote. Sen. John Curtis (R-U.T.) is another weak Republican, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-A.K.) could be another source of frustration for the caucus. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who also chose to step down, said that Blanche must meet with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein to earn his support (via Politico):

Sen. Thom Tillis said Thursday his vote to confirm attorney general nominee Todd Blanche is contingent on Blanche meeting with victims of the late convicted sex offender Jeffery Epstein.
The North Carolina Republican’s new demand creates yet another hurdle for Blanche’s confirmation, which will fail to advance to the Senate floor if one Republican on the Judiciary Committee defects — assuming all Democrats on the panel oppose him. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is also undecided.
“I expect that meeting to occur before I’m willing to vote out of this committee and I’m trying to get to ‘yes,’ but this is a very important part of getting to ‘yes,’” Tillis, who is retiring at the end of the Congress, said at the second day of Blanche’s nomination hearings.
Blanche will need to have this meeting before July 30, the likely date that the Senate Judiciary Committee will reconvene to vote on whether to report Blanche’s nomination favorably to the full Senate.
The current acting attorney general was not present at the hearing Thursday, having answered questions from lawmakers for hours the day before. The Thursday hearing was instead an opportunity for outside witnesses to testify for or against Blanche’s character.