Outgoing Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Wednesday he remains undecided on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's nomination to lead the Department of Justice after raising concerns about the Trump administration's now-abandoned "anti-weaponization" fund during Blanche's Senate confirmation hearing, The Hill reported.

The Texas Republican told reporters after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing: "I continue to have some concerns, but I'm not going to make any decisions at this point. I'm going to wait until we actually vote on a confirmation."

As a senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Cornyn could play a pivotal role in Blanche's nomination, as one GOP vote against the nominee could prevent it from advancing out of committee.

During the hearing, Cornyn questioned Blanche about a May settlement agreement that resolved a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the disclosure of President Donald Trump's tax returns.

As part of that agreement, the Justice Department agreed that the IRS would no longer pursue audits of Trump's previously filed tax returns, a provision Cornyn described as highly unusual.

"There's so much that's unusual about this," Cornyn told Blanche.

The settlement also established a proposed $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund" intended to compensate individuals who claimed they had been unfairly targeted by the federal government. The Trump administration later abandoned the fund after it drew bipartisan criticism.

On Monday, a federal judge ruled that the lawsuit underlying the settlement amounted to collusion, intensifying scrutiny of the agreement.

Cornyn focused on whether the settlement agreement could allow the fund to be revived through future litigation.

Asked whether Trump could sue to restore the fund, Blanche replied that "the plaintiffs have no power over the fund."

"I suppose they could bring a lawsuit, and then we would litigate it," Blanche said. "But even if we were litigating it, there's no fund. So the results of such litigation, whatever it would be, wouldn't be a revival of the fund."

Cornyn, who has occasionally broken with the Trump administration since losing the Texas Republican Senate primary to a Trump-backed challenger earlier this year, remained unconvinced, according to The Hill.

"I mean the argument was that the anti-weaponization fund is dead, and what he confirmed was that it's not," the senator told reporters. "The settlement agreement can't be changed without written consent of the parties. There is no such written consent of the parties, and he admitted that it could be enforced as a matter of contract."

Blanche also faced sharp questioning from the committee's top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., over the agreement's prohibition on IRS audits involving Trump, his family and businesses.

Durbin asked whether the settlement effectively exempted the president and his family from federal tax laws.

"We do it with all kinds of people. It's not just President Trump," Blanche responded. "It doesn't make any of these individuals above the law."

The settlement has also drawn scrutiny from Senate Democrats, who earlier this month sent letters to companies tied to the Trump family questioning whether the agreement could shield those entities from IRS examinations because of their ties to the president.

The lawmakers argued the agreement appeared broad enough, on its face, to potentially provide legal protection not only to Trump and his family but also to businesses associated with them.