WASHINGTON — The Senate Judiciary Committee moved acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination forward Tuesday after key Republican skeptics said they were assured that a nearly $1.8 billion Justice Department fund would not be revived to compensate pardoned Jan. 6 defendants or others who claim they were targeted by prosecutions during the Biden administration.
The panel voted 12-10 to advance Blanche’s confirmation to the full Senate, clearing an important hurdle for one of President Trump’s top Justice Department picks.
Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said ahead of the vote that concerns raised by Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) over the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund were widely felt among Republicans, adding that they were “shared by many — including this senator.”
Cornyn said his decision to support moving Blanche’s nomination was based on more than the written assurances surrounding the fund. “We need a stabilizing force at the Department of Justice,” he said. “And Mr. Blanche deserves the opportunity to provide that.”
The Texas Republican argued that Trump needs a top law enforcement official with legal expertise and the personal access required to offer candid counsel. The role, Cornyn said, demands someone close enough to the president to provide confidential legal advice and “tell him hard truths.”
Blanche formally withdrew the $1.776 billion fund on Sunday, declaring that it “shall have no force or effect.”
The Justice Department had established the fund in a May 18 order tied to a settlement with Trump stemming from an IRS lawsuit he filed earlier this year. That agreement also gave the Trump family potential protection from audits.
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Trump has said the fund was intended to compensate people he described as victims of prosecution dating back to the Obama administration. But critics, including some Republicans, warned it could function as a taxpayer-backed “slush fund” benefiting Trump allies.
Tillis dubbed it a “payout pot for punks.” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel, also called it the “cop-beaters fund.”
Additionally, Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said that the fund, “along with the the sweeping liability release order that Mr. Blanche signed, might well be the most brazenly corrupt and unethical thing this administration has attempted.”
Blanche had declared the fund “dead” during his July 15 confirmation hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, but Cornyn and Tillis demanded a “written document” affirming that and clarifying whether the president and his family were shielded from future IRS audits.
Trump had sued the IRS in 2024 for $10 billion following the leak of his and other family members’ confidential tax returns.
Tillis begged Blanche ahead of the Tuesday vote to end politicized prosecutions such as the recent indictment against former FBI Director James Comey in the Eastern District of North Carolina.
The ex-FBI boss was charged in April for threatening to kill Trump in an Instagram post that showed seashells in the shape of the numbers, “86 47,” apparently using a slang term for “get rid of” and the president’s term figure.
“Some bonehead in North Carolina thinks that that’s a crime,” Tillis said. “Well, they better damn sure have information to back it up, because if all it is is a picture, that person should lose his job, his or her job.”
“The people who went after Republicans in the Biden administration should probably be disbarred or disciplined,” he added. “So at the end of the day, don’t act like you’re standing on some sort of moral high ground if you start attacking this administration, because I can match you almost deed for deed.”
