SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
One nomination is in question. Another is the question at the moment. President Trump says he may pull his nomination of Todd Blanche to be U.S. attorney general. And on Tuesday, Michigan Democrats will decide on their nominated campaign for U.S. senator. It's another face-off between progressives and the party establishment. NPR senior political correspondent Tamara Keith joins us. Tam, thanks so much for being with us.
TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE: So great to be with you, Scott.
SIMON: Let's begin with the Blanche nomination. What's the hold up?
KEITH: You know, it all comes down to a settlement in a lawsuit that President Trump had filed against the IRS. As acting Attorney General Todd Blanche settled that suit by creating a $1.8 billion fund - paid for by taxpayers - to compensate people who feel they were victims of government weaponization during the Biden administration. So in other words, very likely the president's allies and possibly even people who were convicted of attacking the police on January 6, 2021.
So when this was first announced, the political blowback was immediate, including from Republicans. And ultimately, Blanche committed to kill the fund. Now two Republican senators, Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, are saying they won't vote Blanche's nomination out of committee until they get a commitment in writing that the fund is actually dead. And this is not a particularly high bar - put in writing what you've said under oath - but it has turned into a major roadblock, at least in part because the president really stands by the need for the fund.
SIMON: And where does that leave the Blanche nomination?
KEITH: In limbo, but he can continue to serve as acting AG nearly indefinitely, depending on how you interpret the law. And Trump has said he may just wait out the two senators. Tillis didn't run for reelection, and Trump oversaw Cornyn's primary defeat. So both men have been more willing than other senators to put their necks out on this because they don't have to face voters again and, therefore, the president's wrath has less power over them.
SIMON: And it is Todd Blanche's Justice Department, as acting attorney general, that alleged vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. There was news about that last night.
KEITH: Yeah. In a court filing last night, the U.S. attorney for D.C. dropped charges against former Olympian David Hearn, who had been charged with destruction of property. President Trump had claimed on nearly 20 different occasions that vandals were to blame for the problems with the reflecting pool. He claimed with vivid detail that there was a gash cut in the waterproof coating, and it was 250 feet long, 350 feet long, 300 yards long.
The length of it kept changing. The interior secretary backed him up. Arrests were made, all for the government to then admit in last night's filing that it was, quote, "the result of flawed installation" by the contractor, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, and the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day, 2026.
SIMON: Let's wind up with Michigan, where the race for the Democratic nomination to be the candidate for U.S. Senate. Why is this one particularly telling?
KEITH: You know, this year, far-left challengers have ridden a wave of voter anger and anti-incumbent sentiment to notch upset wins against Democratic incumbents in deep blue districts from New York to Colorado. Tuesday's primary is a test of whether that brand of progressive politics can work in a swing state, in a high-stakes race. Abdul El-Sayed is up against four-term congresswoman Haley Stevens for an open Senate seat.
One progressive leader I spoke to this week said if El-Sayed can win in Michigan, first in the primary and then in the general election in this key swing state, then there will be a stronger case for Democrats to nominate a bold economic populist outsider in the race for president in 2028, but other Democrats I spoke to are nervous about taking a risk on a candidate who in the past has taken some pretty far-left positions on things like defunding the police and abolishing ICE. They're worried that in the general election, Republicans will be able to paint him as too extreme for Michigan. So we're watching closely.
SIMON: Well, NPR's Tamara Keith, always wonderful to have you on, and particularly in this slot this morning. Thanks so much.
KEITH: Great to chat with you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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