President Donald Trump’s rare political setback at the hands of his own party exposed the limits of his power, legal expert Andrew Weissman said.

The Republican-controlled Senate has stalled on a vote to confirm acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the president’s former personal defense attorney, to his role last week, after it became clear that he did not have enough support to be moved out of the committee for a full Senate vote.

Several senators, most notably GOP Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, have been opposed to Blanche’s appointment until he can fully disavow the $1.8 billion Justice Department-brokered agreement Trump made with the IRS.

Speaking on The Daily Beast Podcast with host Joanna Coles, Weissman said that while he ultimately believes Blanche will be confirmed, it is “useful to have the senators say there is a line, you know, beyond which I will not cross.”

“Remember, there are two parts to the bogus settlement,” he elaborated. “And when I use bogus, that is a federal judge found that this whole ten-billion-dollar lawsuit was bogus and not and this was not in fact a ‘settlement.’”

Weissman said the agreement consisted of two key provisions. The first was the creation of a fund that, according to reports, would compensate Trump allies. “The Department of Justice has now been doing that,” he said, “but not using the fund. They’ve been using other funds.”

The second provision, he argued, is what has become the real sticking point.

“There was this general release that only Todd Blanche signed,” Weissman said. “The acting attorney general giving an audit release of tax liability for Donald Trump, his family, and his companies.”

Weissman suggested Trump was far more invested in preserving that portion of the agreement than the compensation fund.

“The president seemed to be fine saying, ‘Hey, I’ll give up the fund because that’s money that’s not going to me,’” he said. “But when it comes to the tax audit ... ‘I’ll be damned if I’m giving up something for me that I got.’”