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WASHINGTON — President Trump is standing by Todd Blanche as his pick for acting attorney general — and defending a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” created as a result of his lawsuit against the IRS — even as GOP senators could delay a confirmation vote for another month.
Trump said during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David Friday that Blanche “should be approved forthwith,” while also doubling down in his defense of the fund — in another rebuke of Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), who have held up Blanche’s confirmation vote in the Judiciary Committee.
The president mocked Cornyn for being an “angry person” after having lost a Texas Senate GOP primary race in May. Trump had endorsed Cornyn’s opponent Ken Paxton, who serves as the state’s attorney general.
And he expressed disappointment that the $1.776 billion fund meant to compensate victims of perceived political prosecutions in past administrations is apparently dead.
“I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused. This has nothing to do with Todd; this was me,” Trump said of the fund. “And I’d like to see them compensated for the pain. They lost their families. They committed suicide.”
In a Truth Social post Friday, he also said, “I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!”
On Thursday, he had signaled openness to pulling Blanche’s nomination until Cornyn and Tillis, who opted not to run for re-election in 2026, are out of office.
Under federal law, the acting attorney general could serve another 210 days after the nomination is withdrawn, letting Blanche be re-nominated in February 2027.
But some Cabinet secretaries think that confirmation should come sooner.
“Todd Blanche has been an invaluable partner in advancing President Trump’s agenda and as a result of his leadership at the Department of Justice, Americans are safer today,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had served with Cornyn and Tillis in the Senate, also posted on X after the meeting.
“The Senate should not leave for recess without confirming him as Attorney General,” Rubio added. The upper chamber is scheduled to go into recess on Aug. 7 and won’t return until Sept. 14.
Cornyn and Tillis have been demanding written confirmation from the Department of Justice that the anti-weaponization fund won’t be reconstituted after Blanche testified it was “dead” in a July 15 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
That’s resulted in a back-and-forth between those Republicans’ offices and the DOJ about written proposals submitted and whether it would effectively bar the fund.
“We’re asking them to confirm his sworn testimony at the hearing about the scope of the release and what it covers and what it doesn’t cover,” Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
One version of the language previously submitted to Cornyn and Tillis on July 29 stated, “The Attorney General’s May 18, 2026, Order establishing the Anti-Weaponization Fund (“Fund”) is rescinded and shall have no force or effect,” but it wasn’t accepted, sources say.
The fund had already been blocked by a federal judge in a May order after the DOJ entered into a settlement agreement with Trump and his family members over a suit involving the 2024 leak of their tax returns.
Blanche served as Trump’s personal defense attorney before being confirmed as the DOJ’s deputy attorney general last year.
Trump administration officials had stressed that the fund would be open to anyone who applies — Republican or Democrat — and that disbursements would be approved by a five-member panel. Four of those members would be picked by the attorney general, and a fifth would be chosen by Congress.
Mike Howell, president of the conservative watchdog group Oversight Project, who made a bid to join the panel, has fiercely defended the fund for compensating those “greatly abused by the corrupt and weaponized” Biden administration.
“It’s time to turn the victims into MAGA Millionaires,” Howell said in a Friday statement. “I hope that during their retirement Cornyn and Tillis watch oversized checks delivered to these patriots on cable news television.”
Hunter Biden, who is drowning in millions of dollars’ worth of legal debts, was also encouraged to apply.
The former first son had pleaded guilty to tax felonies and been convicted of illegally possessing a handgun while addicted to crack cocaine, before being pardoned by his dad, President Biden, in December 2024.
“A lot of Republican people, a lot of Democrat people are very upset about it,” Trump said Friday. “A lot of people were covered. I wasn’t covered by that fund. I don’t want to be covered by the fund. I probably was abused more than anybody in the history of our country, but I wasn’t looking for that.”
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