Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has scrapped a proposed $1.8 billion compensation fund for Donald Trump’s political allies, a move expected to clear the path for his confirmation as permanent attorney general later this week.
Blanche announced the fund’s termination in a social media post Sunday night, following weeks of talks with two Republican senators who had been holding up his nomination.
“My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions,” Blanche wrote in a post on X.
“We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order,” he added.
Trump said Friday that the so-called anti-weaponization fund was “dead,” though he made clear he hoped to bring the idea back in the future.
“Well, it is dead, but you know I wish it weren’t, to be honest with you,” Trump told ABC News. “I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused … and I’d like to see them compensated for the pain.”
A statement released with Blanche’s order said that “although [Blanche] has repeatedly advised Congress through testimony, including under oath, as well as in written responses, that the Fund is not moving forward, and the Department has repeatedly represented to district courts that the Fund is not moving forward, today’s Order officially rescinds the May 18, 2026 Order.”
The order Blanche issued Sunday night also narrows a separate settlement provision that had granted sweeping protection from tax audits to Trump and members of his family.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche ended Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion fund to compensate his political allies in a deal that will likely see him confirmed as the permanent AG this week
The President had spoken of his plans to bring the fund back to life as recently as his Sunday evening press gaggle on Air Force One
The deal clarifies that the tax audit immunity agreement ‘applies by its terms only retroactively’ to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.
A spokeswoman for Texas Senator John Cornyn, one of the senators holding up Blanche’s nomination, confirmed the agreement late Sunday.
The other GOP senator, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, did not have immediate comment.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.
While Blanche has repeatedly said publicly that the fund was dead, the Justice Department had resisted formally confirming that in writing.
That had drawn concern from lawmakers that it could be revived in some form, especially after Trump expressed continued support for the idea.
Trump delivered an ultimatum to Tillis and Cornyn in a Truth Social post Saturday morning, threatening to push forward the fund if they don’t comply with his demand.
‘If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting AG, and push hard’ to restore the fund, Trump wrote Saturday.
The President had even spoken of his plans to bring the fund back to life as recently as his Sunday evening press gaggle on Air Force One.
Earlier Sunday evening, Trump said that people who had faced charges from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and could have benefitted from the fund had ‘their lives destroyed’
Senator John Cornyn of Texas (pictured left) and Thom Tills of North Carolina (pictured right) have pushed Blanche to confirmed the order was dead.
The two sides have been negotiating for weeks, but Trump has said repeatedly during the talks that he thinks the fund should go forward.
The president insisted, as he previously has, that the fund ‘takes care of those who have been so badly treated’ during the administrations of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
‘Todd Blanche was a voice of reason!’ he continued. ‘It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done. Thank you for your attention to this matter!’
Earlier Sunday evening, Trump said that people who had faced charges from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and could have benefitted from the fund had ‘their lives destroyed.’
‘This would be a reimbursement for the pain that they suffered,’ Trump said. ‘A lot of people like it.’
The Trump Administration needed Tillis and Cornyn’s votes for confirmation but both lawmakers have protested Blanche’s selection because of a lawsuit settlement that created the $1.8 billion fund.
The controversial fund also provided Trump and his family members with immunity from tax audits.
Blanche said at a hearing two months ago that the anti-weaponization fund would not move forward after Republican senators revolted and held up an immigration funding bill.
But Tillis and Cornyn, who lost reelection this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, said they want to ensure that the White House does not reverse course, especially as Trump continues to argue that a fund is needed.
The Justice Department has provided the senators with language that says Blanche’s May 18 order establishing the anti-weaponization fund is ‘rescinded and shall have no force or effect,’ according to documents reviewed by The Associated Press.
Cornyn and Tillis have said they also want some clarifications on a separate piece of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits.
Cornyn said this week that it was his understanding that the audits could extend to more than 100 different Trump organization subsidiaries into the future.
‘Todd Blanche said it was limited to the parties to the litigation – and it was retrospective, not prospective,’ Cornyn said. ‘And all we’re doing is asking them to put that in writing.’
Now that Cornyn has done so, all likelihood points to Blanche being confirmed to the job permanently by the Republican-controlled Senate this week.
Blanche, who served as Trump’s defense lawyer in his criminal cases, entered the Justice Department last year as deputy attorney general.
He was elevated to the top post after Pam Bondi was fired in April by Trump, who was frustrated by her failure to successfully prosecute his political enemies.
Though Blanche insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent job, he has moved aggressively to pursue the Trump administration’s agenda and accelerate investigations into the president’s perceived foes.
The Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Blanche is scheduled for Tuesday.
