Blanche asserts ‘anti-weaponization’ fund is dead, wins key GOP support in US Senate

WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general appeared on track Monday after he submitted a written assurance to Senate Judiciary Committee lawmakers that the administration’s nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that could potentially pay pardoned violent Jan. 6 defendants is dead.

Blanche’s signed statement that an order establishing the fund is “rescinded” and accompanying unsigned memo, released via social media late Sunday, comes after two Republican senators on the committee, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, withheld support for Blanche’s nomination to lead the Department of Justice.

The late-night announcement of a deal appeared to be enough to secure both senators’ support ahead of a crucial Tuesday vote on Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Neither the Blanche statement or the memo was signed by President Donald Trump.

The memo Blanche posted to the X platform just after 11 p.m. Eastern also contains a line regarding Cornyn’s concerns about an IRS settlement agreement provision that releases Trump and some of his family members from future tax audits and enforcement. That deal only applies “retroactively,” according to the memo.

Cornyn and Tillis issued a joint statement Monday morning expressing they were “pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund.” 

“Additionally, the Department has acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share.”

“We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” Cornyn and Tillis said.

Court ruling

Blanche and the department had so far declined to issue a written order, even when directed by a federal judge, to formally end Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund created in exchange for the president voluntarily dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. 

Rather, Blanche, who worked as Trump’s former criminal defense lawyer, maintained that his previous statements during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in June amounted to the fund’s formal end.

“For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in his Order is intended to contradict or otherwise be contrary to prior representations by the Department of Justice that the fund is not operative,” according to Blanche’s two-paragraph signed statement on Sunday night.

“No Members were appointed; no funds were transferred; no process for receiving claims was established; no claims were paid. Nevertheless, several frivolous lawsuits have been filed challenging the Fund, and at least one court has declined to dismiss those claims as moot,” the statement continued.

Almost immediately after Trump’s May 18 settlement with the IRS, the fund became a lightning rod for criticism and legal challenges because of the potential for pardoned Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted law enforcement to reap financial compensation from the government. 

The fund attracted numerous lawsuits, including from two police officers who deployed to the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, and by a former Justice Department official who prosecuted Jan. 6 and was subsequently fired under the Trump administration.

Trump defended the “anti-weaponization” fund Friday online and during his Cabinet meeting. His personal lawyers on Friday also appealed a court order from a Florida federal judge who did not recognize the validity of Trump’s settlement with his own administration — but rather said that he used his presidency to “manipulate” the courts.

Blanche’s Sunday night statement defended his earlier comments about the fund. “The Acting Attorney General stands by all of his July 15, 2026 Senate Judiciary Committee testimony, including answers to questions asked by Senator Cornyn related to the scope and applicability of the May 19, 2026 order,” according to the statement, which refers to Blanche’s hourslong confirmation hearing before the committee.

Blanche did not post a copy of the original settlement agreement displaying any modifications to the original language. 

IRS deal

Blanche did not sign the May 18 settlement agreement that was negotiated with the personal lawyers representing Trump, his two sons Eric and Don Jr. and the Trump Organization. The Trumps and their private venture sued the Internal Revenue Service last year over a 2019 leak of tax returns by a government contractor, who was already convicted and sentenced in 2024.

Rather, Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. and Frank Bisignano, IRS chief executive officer, a position created by Trump, signed the nine-page settlement that created the nearly $1.8 billion fund to be run by five commissioners. The panel members were to be chosen by the attorney general — one with the input of Congress — and could be removed by Trump at any time without cause.

Per the agreement, commissioners would accept and decide claims through Dec. 15, 2028 from victims who allege the government subjected them to “Lawfare and/or Weaponization.” Any money left in the settlement fund at the sunset date would automatically transfer to the Department of Commerce, according to the agreement.

Blanche signed a two-page May 18 order setting the fund in motion, with a directive that the U.S. Treasury provide $1.776 billion within 60 days to a “designated account.”

On May 19, Blanche issued a sweeping order enacting part of the settlement agreement that indefinitely absolves Trump, his sons and the Trump organization from any tax audits or enforcement related to the tax returns and information leaked in 2019.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has rescheduled a committee vote to advance Blanche’s nomination for Tuesday morning.