(CNN) — The White House was directly involved in acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s order to formally rescind the president’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Specifically, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and the director of legislative affairs, James Braid, were “deeply involved,” one official said. Blanche worked with the White House throughout the process, and kept top officials briefed on the negotiations and key sticking points.
President Donald Trump was aware of the deal struck between Blanche and the two key holdout Senate Republicans on his nomination, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, to formally rescind the controversial fund and limit a prior agreement with the IRS regarding tax investigations into the president and his family members to retroactive actions, the official said.
Trump, however, made clear on Monday that he did not personally review the deal, telling reporters in the Oval Office, “I didn’t look at it.”
“I understand there’s been a sign-off, but I don’t know what they agreed,” he said, adding that his understanding was that Blanche “agreed to reconfirm things that he’s already said.” Trump said he viewed the fund “as a positive,” but said there were no other plans to revive it through another mechanism.
“There’s no other avenues that I know of,” the president said.
White House officials and Trump himself had grown frustrated with the senators before a deal was reached. They believed the senators were trying to exert leverage, even though privately, one White House official said, the lawmakers acknowledged that Blanche was the best fit for the position.
While Trump personally continues to believe in the nearly $1.8 billion fund, he was convinced by his top advisers that this was the only way to ensure Blanche’s nomination for attorney general would advance, the official said.
“He wants Blanche confirmed,” the official told CNN. “He realizes he needs to do this.”
A senior administration official said it is typical for the White House — or the president’s chief of staff — to track the process of a nomination, but that negotiations took place only between Blanche and the senators. Braid was not deeply involved in the process, the official said.
Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer who is serving as the acting attorney general, is well-liked within the White House and is viewed as a loyal appointee of Trump. Multiple people familiar with the matter said Blanche wanted to win Senate confirmation — even though he could continue serving in an acting capacity or lead the Justice Department as the deputy attorney general for the remainder of Trump’s term — and the White House wanted to help him.
Tillis and Cornyn’s demands — specifically when it came to limiting the IRS agreement — left Blanche in a difficult place, as putting them in writing could anger the president. So for weeks, the Justice Department went back and forth with Cornyn’s staff to try to find a middle ground.
Cornyn’s chief legal counsel led the negotiations for the Texas Republican, who appeared to be the most serious detractor as the vote approached to advance Blanche’s nomination. Blanche’s staff sent several versions of the memo to Cornyn’s counsel, according to several people familiar with the matter. In each version, the lawyer said she identified loopholes that needed to be addressed.
Late Sunday night, Blanche published two documents in a post on X to announce that a deal had been reached. The first document is a signed memo stating the Justice Department was formally rescinding the order that established anti-weaponization fund, and the second was an unsigned statement clarifying the terms of the IRS protections. Tillis and Cornyn quickly confirmed their approval of the deal.
Blanche said in his memo that the fund “shall have no force or effect” and that the memo “establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no Fund.” He also credited “good faith discussions” with the senators.
Still, some attorneys inside the Justice Department have questioned whether the document Blanche signed was legally binding. The anti-weaponization memo is signed by Blanche, but it does not include the signature of Trump’s current personal lawyers, who would have entered into the original settlement with the administration.
Tillis and Cornyn on Monday defended their agreement with the Department of Justice, despite criticism that the order may not be legally binding.
Pressed by reporters on why they trusted that Blanche would not double back on the agreement once confirmed, Tillis replied, “Because I believe he’s an honorable man.”
However, he said, the president could simply always create a new fund. “Then he can answer to the American people for not negotiating in good faith,” the retiring North Carolina senator said.
“The rescission of the weaponization fund is legally binding, so it’s gone,” Cornyn said. Regarding the tax investigations agreement, he said, “There’s literally nothing we could do other than have the president change a settlement agreement to make that legally binding.”
“What we could do, and what we did do, is get Todd Blanche to testify under oath, and then to get the DOJ on the record that this is their official interpretation of those provisions,” the Texas Republican said.
Tillis said he still has questions about how the process played out over the last week, adding he’ll be looking at people “who played a role in it.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
The-CNN-Wire
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