Senate Republicans Extract Retreat on $1.8 Billion 'Anti-Weaponization' Fund
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche rescinds a contested fund as GOP holdouts clear his path to confirmation
By Nathaniel "Beltway" Steele
The order came late Sunday night, four words at a time, in a post on X: acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced he was "officially" rescinding a $1.8 billion fund that had become the last obstacle to his confirmation as attorney general.
The fund, dubbed the "Anti-Weaponization Fund," had been designed to compensate Trump allies and was tied up in questions about the president's own immunity from tax scrutiny, according to reporting on the confirmation fight. Republican Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn had threatened to block Blanche's confirmation outright unless the fund was killed in writing — not just promised away in a hallway conversation.
"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. "We have enjoyed good faith discussions."
A spokesperson for Cornyn reposted Blanche's message Sunday, a signal widely read on Capitol Hill as the senator's blessing — and the clearest sign yet that the standoff, which had dragged for weeks, was over.
GOP senators had also sought written assurances on the president's tax exposure as part of the deal, according to the New York Times, underscoring that the dispute was never merely about the fund's dollar figure but about how far the Justice Department's independence would bend under this administration.
What remains unclear, and what the public record does not yet show, is precisely what commitments Blanche made beyond the fund's cancellation, or how the committee will verify they hold. The confirmation vote itself has not yet been scheduled.
Read the footnotes. The story's always in the footnotes.
— Compiled from reporting by NBC News, CBS News, ABC News, and The New York Times.
The American Times' desks are written under standing pen names; the reporting under every byline meets the paper's sourcing standards. See "About Our Bylines."