{"id":26389,"date":"2026-08-03T19:06:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26389"},"modified":"2026-08-03T19:06:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T14:06:36","slug":"blanche-kills-trump-fund-but-leaves-legal-loose-ends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=26389","title":{"rendered":"Blanche kills Trump fund but leaves legal loose ends"},"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:\/\/images.axios.com\/wldKvBgk_is2XCl4odJj05L6pH0=\/0x0:3371x1896\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/03\/1785758537871.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche rescinded the order setting up <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/31\/trump-blanche-doj-anti-weaponization-fund-dead\" target=\"_blank\">President Trump&#8217;s<\/a> $1.776 billion &#8220;anti-weaponization&#8221; fund Sunday, a move aimed at ending a Republican <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/08\/01\/blanche-tillis-trump-anti-weaponization-fund\" target=\"_blank\">blockade<\/a> of his confirmation that leaves the underlying settlement unresolved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>Blanche has faced unusual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/30\/todd-blanche-nomination-issues-trump\" target=\"_blank\">resistance<\/a> from two Senate Republicans on a committee where he cannot afford to lose a single GOP vote in order to advance to a full Senate hearing.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong>Catch up quick: <\/strong>The fund grew out of a May settlement of Trump&#8217;s lawsuit against the IRS over the disclosure of his tax records.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The settlement promised an apology to Trump and his sons, and it created the fund for individuals claiming they suffered from government &#8220;lawfare.&#8221; <\/li>\n<li>Another agreement released Trump, his family and the Trump Organization from certain IRS claims and audits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Of note: <\/strong>Blanche&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DAGToddBlanche\/status\/2084114427813437897\/\" target=\"_blank\">new order<\/a> rescinds one from May implementing the nearly $1.8 billion fund, but not the settlement provision requiring the attorney general to create the fund.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The settlement&#8217;s terms can only be changed via a written agreement from the Trumps and the government. Sunday&#8217;s order was signed by Blanche but not by Trump, his sons or the Trump Organization.<\/li>\n<li>At his hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, Blanche acknowledged that the settlement was enforceable and that Trump&#8217;s lawyers could try to enforce it or claim the DOJ breached the agreement by refusing to operate the fund.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Blanche also clarified<\/strong> the sweeping protections Trump received from tax audits on Sunday.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>In a statement released with the order, Blanche said the protections only apply retroactively and only to the lawsuit&#8217;s named plaintiffs: Trump, some of his family, and the Trump Organization. The earlier agreement said it extended to any &#8220;related or affiliated&#8221; individuals, companies and other organizations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>State of play: <\/strong>The new order may be enough to secure Blanche&#8217;s confirmation.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A spokesperson for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said in a statement that Blanche&#8217;s new orders was part of an agreement with Cornyn &#8220;permanently terminating the anti-weaponization fund and making clear in a binding written document that the scope of the audit settlement is limited to only the plaintiffs, including the President, and the IRS.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), the other Judiciary Committee Republican withholding support, has not yet said if he will advance Blanche given the new order.<\/li>\n<li>Tillis, the Justice Department and the White House did not immediately return requests for comment. A spokesperson for Cornyn didn&#8217;t answer questions and repeated his earlier statement.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Friction point: <\/strong>Trump complicated the negotiations Saturday when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/07\/31\/trump-blanche-doj-anti-weaponization-fund-dead\" target=\"_blank\">he threatened to keep Blanche<\/a> as acting attorney general and revive the fund.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done,&#8221; he wrote.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Flashback: <\/strong>U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams found that Trump&#8217;s initial lawsuit was brought to manipulate the judicial process since Trump controlled both sides of the litigation. <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>She stopped short of deciding if the agreement was enforceable as a private contract.<\/li>\n<li>U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema barred the DOJ from operating the fund, but she said she&#8217;d likely dismiss that case if top officials killed the fund.<\/li>\n<li>U.S. District Senior Judge Richard Leon reached a different result in a separate case, declining to block the fund since the Justice Department had said it was not moving forward.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s next:<\/strong> Blanche cannot afford any Republican defectors to advance through the committee.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote on Tuesday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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>Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche rescinded the order setting up President Trump&#8217;s $1.776 billion &#8220;anti-weaponization&#8221; fund Sunday, a move aimed at ending a Republican blockade of his confirmation that leaves the underlying settlement unresolved. Why it matters: Blanche has faced unusual resistance from two Senate Republicans on a committee where he cannot afford to lose&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/wldKvBgk_is2XCl4odJj05L6pH0=\/0x0:3371x1896\/1366x768\/2026\/08\/03\/1785758537871.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26389","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=26389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}