Todd Blanche has formally withdrawn Trump’s anti-weaponisation fund plan, a move that could remove the final obstacle to his confirmation as attorney general. The decision came after two Republican senators said they wanted a written guarantee that the controversial proposal would not be revived.
Blanche, who is serving as acting US attorney general, said in a post on X late Sunday that he had met with committee members and senators over several weeks and addressed their concerns. He attached the signed order, which states that there is no fund. Blanche also posted again to say language around IRS immunity had been clarified.
The proposed $1.8 billion fund was tied to a lawsuit Trump brought against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Under the plan, Trump allies could have sought compensation for what they described as politically motivated prosecutions by previous administrations. Critics warned that it could have opened the door to payments for people prosecuted over the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, including those convicted of assaulting police officers.
That concern helped fuel backlash from Democrats and some Republicans, and a federal judge separately blocked the fund while raising ethical concerns. Even after Blanche told senators the proposal had been abandoned, two Republican holdouts still withheld support. The stall put Blanche’s confirmation in jeopardy because the party did not have the votes it needed.
The senators at the center of the fight were John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, whose terms end in January. A Cornyn spokesperson told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, that the senator had reached an agreement with the Justice Department over the fund. Tillis has not commented publicly on the latest move, but he previously warned that Trump still seemed to be considering a plan he described as a payout pot for punks.
