{"id":24677,"date":"2026-08-02T00:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T19:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24677"},"modified":"2026-08-02T00:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T19:24:47","slug":"trump-says-hell-revive-anti-weaponization-fund-if-blanches-nomination-for-ag-is-blocked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=24677","title":{"rendered":"Trump says he\u2019ll revive \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund if Blanche\u2019s nomination for AG is blocked"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260731-trump-blanche-mn-1005-6ad917.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-2d27f2\" class=\"body-graf\">President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to \u201cpush hard\u201d to keep a $1.8 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund active, amid an ongoing feud between two Republican senators and the Trump administration over the president\u2019s nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-eed6a7\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cIf Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn\u2019t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren\u2019t 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,\u201d the president <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117020029291674756\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> in a post on Truth Social.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1cb2d9\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cTodd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done. Thank you for your attention to this matter!\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b7a664\" class=\"body-graf\">Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Thom Tillis, R-N.C.,<strong> <\/strong>are both departing Congress after feuding with Trump. In Texas, Cornyn ran for re-election, losing in a primary runoff to state Attorney General Ken Paxton after Trump endorsed Paxton.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b96de8\" class=\"body-graf\">Tillis, in North Carolina, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2026-election\/gop-sen-thom-tillis-not-running-re-election-north-carolina-rcna215819\" target=\"_blank\">opted not to run<\/a> for re-election, making his plans to retire public one day after drawing Trump\u2019s ire for opposing a GOP-backed domestic policy package.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-ca226e\" class=\"body-graf\">The two senators have partially conditioned their support for Blanche\u2019s nomination on the Trump administration rescinding its plans for the fund, which would provide compensation for<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/trump-set-pardon-defendants-stormed-capitol-jan-6-2021-rcna187735\" target=\"_blank\"> Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump<\/a> for claims of government overreach.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-a53572\" class=\"body-graf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/trump-set-pardon-defendants-stormed-capitol-jan-6-2021-rcna187735\" target=\"_blank\">In <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/senthomtillis\/status\/2083528424199537032?s=46\" target=\"_blank\">a post on X<\/a> following Trump\u2019s statement Saturday, Tillis blamed the president for Blanche\u2019s stalled confirmation.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f1e120\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cDespite 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,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-de44e2\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cIt\u2019s 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,\u201d Tillis added.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-e42198\" class=\"body-graf\">Blanche\u2019s nomination has been in jeopardy for several weeks, with Cornyn and Tillis previously saying that there are other Republican senators that share their concerns but don\u2019t sit on the Judiciary Committee and wouldn\u2019t have the chance to vote for or against Blanche until his nomination came to the floor.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cee775\" class=\"body-graf\">On Wednesday night, the committee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/trumps-irs-carveout-threatens-hold-todd-blanche-attorney-general-nomin-rcna589617\" target=\"_blank\">postponed<\/a> a vote on Blanche\u2019s nomination because of Cornyn and Tillis\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c3371c\" class=\"body-graf\">On Friday, at a Cabinet meeting, the president defended the fund, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-defends-anti-weaponization-fund-complicating-blanche-nomination-rcna590254\" target=\"_blank\">saying<\/a>, \u201cIt is dead, but you know, I wish it weren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-97c763\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThis has nothing to do with Todd,\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-cbb873\" class=\"body-graf\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-voluntarily-drops-10-billion-lawsuit-irs-leaked-tax-records-rcna345193\" target=\"_blank\">anti-weaponization fund<\/a> has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/judge-indefinitely-blocks-trumps-anti-weaponization-fund-rcna349814\" target=\"_blank\">blocked<\/a> indefinitely by a federal judge, but the Trump administration has not pledged to stop pursuing it.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5f547c\" class=\"body-graf\">The fund was part of a settlement agreement that stemmed from a lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS. Also part of that settlement was an agreement that made the president and several family members immune from IRS audits, another provision that Cornyn and Tillis have shared concerns about.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-4bbbb0\" class=\"body-graf\">Earlier this week, the president <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-threatens-pull-todd-blanches-ag-nomination-gop-holdouts-leave-of-rcna590054\" target=\"_blank\">threatened to withdraw<\/a> Blanche\u2019s nomination and resubmit it next year, after Tillis and Cornyn have left office.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-455a3f\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">\u201cHey, in 158 days they can try it again, roll the dice on what the Senate confirmation process looks like next year,\u201d Tillis told reporters at the Capitol after that threat. \u201cIt\u2019s all on him. Certainly within his authority to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to \u201cpush hard\u201d to keep a $1.8 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund active, amid an ongoing feud between two Republican senators and the Trump administration over the president\u2019s nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general. \u201cIf Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn\u2019t Endorse them (they lost, and quit,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260731-trump-blanche-mn-1005-6ad917.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}