Trump quietly reignites fight to save shady deal torpedoing Blanche nomination

President Donald Trump quietly restarted a court battle Thursday to save an IRS audit deal that is also blocking acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation.

Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization filed the notice of appeal to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, according to court records, challenging a July 13 ruling by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams.

A controversial provision, signed by Blanche alone, would permanently bar the IRS from auditing Trump, his sons, and their businesses.

Williams found that Trump had essentially sued himself — because he controls the agencies he sued — and that the audit provision of the resulting deal violated federal law.

"The Release Order also purports to bar the IRS from conducting any future tax audits of President Trump, his sons, and their entities," the order said.

"The explicit text of this statute prohibits President Trump and his lawyers — one of whom was former White House Counsel — from asking for or promoting termination of an audit directed toward him," Williams wrote.

She noted this was "a limitation surely known by former White House Counsel and the current Acting Attorney General."

Opposition to that same audit shield is now blocking Blanche's Senate confirmation.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said earlier this week that the anti-weaponization fund language was nearly resolved, but the audit deal remained the problem.

"We're trying to work just to get the language," Tillis told reporters. "I really do believe it's just a drafting exercise."

He flagged "the remaining language on the audit" deal as the central issue.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said Thursday that he and Blanche had nearly reached a deal — until Trump stepped in.

"I think as far as Blanche and the Department of Justice, we were pretty much on the same page," Cornyn told reporters. "But then when the president got wind of it, he wasn't willing to go along with it."

"I can see why he wants it, because it provides immunity from audits no other taxpayer would get," Cornyn added.

On Truth Social Wednesday, Trump praised Blanche and threatened to pull the nomination — but said nothing about the audit deal. The appeal, filed the same day, went unannounced.

"I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing, and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office," Trump wrote.

"The president wants it both ways — he wants his audit immunity deal safeguarded, but he also wants his AG nominee confirmed," Punchbowl News senior congressional reporter Andrew Desiderio wrote on X. "Absent a complete fold by Cornyn/Tillis (which nobody in either party realistically expects), Trump cannot have both."

Friday morning, Trump reversed course and said Blanche "should be immediately approved as U.S. Attorney General," according to Forbes — though the audit deal standoff remained unresolved.