Cory Booker Says Trump's AG Pick Won't Have the Votes to Be Confirmed

President Donald Trump moved Wednesday evening at the White House to nominate Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche as the nation's permanent top prosecutor, ending days of speculation over who would lead the Justice Department.

By Thursday on CNN, Sen. Cory Booker warned host Laura Coates that Blanche "won't have the votes" and called him "wholly unqualified" for the job.

The nomination now heads toward a Senate fight where Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, a deciding vote on the Judiciary Committee, has already vowed to oppose any nominee who excused the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Booker framed Blanche's nomination as a test of whether the Justice Department would operate independently from Trump. In the CNN interview, Booker said of Trump's nominees, "His only qualification… is that they are willing to do his bidding."

That vote-count claim remains Booker's political warning, not a confirmed Senate whip count. But the math looks complicated for Blanche even before a full confirmation fight begins. Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, could stop the nomination inside the Judiciary Committee if he follows through on his April warning.

Tillis told Semafor that he would not support any nominee who failed his Jan. 6 standard. "The minute you give somebody slack, then you've lost the principle, right? And the principle here is that anybody who didn't back the blue on January 6th is disqualified from consideration for me in the Judiciary Committee," Tillis said.

Trump elevated Blanche after firing Attorney General Pam Bondi in early April. Blanche had served as Bondi's deputy before taking over as acting attorney general.

On Wednesday evening, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino posted a video of Trump announcing the move from the Rose Garden.

"He's acting attorney general," Trump said. "Tomorrow I'm instructing Dan and everybody else that's involved in that very complicated process... that we are going to make him permanent attorney general."

Blanche has publicly said he would accept whatever role Trump chooses for him. "I love working for President Trump. It's the greatest honor of a lifetime," he said at a press conference, according to Punchbowl News. "And if President Trump chooses to keep me as acting, that's an honor. If he chooses to nominate me, that's an honor."

Blanche's trouble with Republican senators deepened after a fight over a proposed $1.8 billion fund intended to compensate the president's allies. The administration scrapped the plan on June 2 after political backlash and court setbacks. "We are not moving forward with the fund, period," Blanche said at a House hearing.

Several Republicans had already shown their frustration. Sen. Mitch McConnell criticized the proposal as "[a] slush fund to pay people who assault cops," according to The Hill. The fund fight added pressure to a nomination that already faced questions over loyalty, independence and Jan. 6.

A closed-door meeting with GOP senators in late May also signaled trouble. Sen. Ted Cruz described the meeting as "angry," and said that of around 45 Senate Republicans who attended, "at least half of them were blasting the attorney general," according to PBS NewsHour.

For now, Blanche remains acting attorney general while Trump prepares to push for a permanent confirmation. Booker says the votes are not there. Tillis has drawn a hard line. And some Republicans have already made clear they want answers before they agree to put Blanche in charge of the Justice Department for the long haul.