Update that they've suspended the vote in body | Trump defends $1.8bn slush fund that is holding up Todd Blanche confirmation

Update:

Grassley postpones vote in US Senate panel on Blanche nomination for AG

A vote on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to permanently fill the nation’s top law enforcement role was postponed Wednesday after two Republican senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — remained dissatisfied with Blanche’s handling of the administration’s “anti-weaponization” fund and a tax immunity deal.

A spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement the vote had been postponed.

Original

While Blanche later said the slush fund was dead after an extraordinary backlash, two Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee – John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina – have demanded assurances in writing that the fund will never be activated before they back his confirmation as attorney general. Blanche has not given them that assurance, and the committee’s vote to advance his nomination was postponed this week as a result.