President Trump delivered an ultimatum to Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn on Saturday, telling them to stop stalling on confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general or he would push again to make his “anti-weaponization fund” a reality.
Tillis and Cornyn have refused to vote for Blanche as the full-time attorney general unless it is put in writing that Mr. Trump will no longer pursue the “anti-weaponization fund,” a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people who claim they were politically persecuted, which was announced in May as part of a settlement to resolve Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Trump not only said the “anti-weaponization fund” was off the table, but he would keep Blanche in the acting AG role and push to pass the fund if the two senators who oppose it don’t vote for Blanche.
“If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill, which takes care of those who have been so badly treated by the Crooked Joe Biden (and Obuma!) Administration (I get nothing, although I was treated horribly!), PASSED,” the president wrote Saturday morning on Truth Social.
He added, “Todd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done.”
Tillis responded to the ultimatum Saturday.
“Despite comments as late as yesterday that the fund is dead, President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against,” Tillis posted on X.
“It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday,” he added.
Eric Lee / Getty Images
Mr. Trump lamented the supposed end of the fund during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David on Saturday.
“Well, it is dead, but you know, I wish it weren’t,” Mr. Trump said. “To be honest with you, I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused … and I’d like to see them compensated for the the pain. They lost their families. They committed suicide.”
He continued, “People that were very successful that wanted to go to a rally or an event, and ended up spending the rest of their lives in horror. So, I mean, you can say what you want about the fund, and they’ve agreed to not have a fund. But there are a lot of people that are very upset about it.”
At his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Blanche reiterated the fund was “dead.” Cornyn noted the settlement states any changes to it must be agreed upon in writing by all parties involved.
“Has there been a written agreement of the parties to modify the settlement fund?” he asked.
“No, the settlement fund is just not moving forward,” Blanche responded. “There’s no modification. It never started. No money went from the Treasury to any other account.”
After delaying a vote last week on Blanche’s nomination due to Cornyn and Tillis, the Senate Judiciary Committee said Saturday it would now be voting this Tuesday at 9 a.m.
“Chairman Grassley wants Todd Blanche’s nomination to be successful,” the committee said in a statement announcing the vote. “Noticing the markup gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee. Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess as he has an excellent record restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.”
The “anti-weaponization fund” was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in May to allow her time to consider whether to grant longer-term relief for those suing about the fund, which included two plaintiffs represented by Democracy Forward.
“This is a victory for transparency, the rule of law, and the American people,” Democracy Forward CEO Skye Perryman said in a statement at the time. “No administration has the authority to spend public money through a political rewards program that Congress never authorized.”
The Justice Department would confirm in June through court filings that the fund was not going forward and thus the lawsuits should be rendered moot. Democrats, who’ve called it a “slush fund,” and many Republicans opposed the announcement by Mr. Trump, so it might be a tough road to approve the fund even if Cornyn and Tillis do not relent to the president’s ultimatum.
The Senate will go on its summer recess at the end of next week. It will not return until mid-September.