Trump Threatens to Revive $1.8 Billion Fund if Senate Blocks Blanche
Updated
Updated · NBC News · Aug 1
Trump Threatens to Revive $1.8 Billion Fund if Senate Blocks Blanche
3 articles · Updated · NBC News · Aug 1
Summary
Trump said Saturday he would keep Todd Blanche as acting attorney general and push to restore a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund if Senate Republicans refuse to confirm him as attorney general.
Two Republican holdouts — John Cornyn and Thom Tillis — have tied support for Blanche to the administration abandoning the fund, which would compensate Jan. 6 pardonees for alleged government overreach.
Tillis said Trump, not Blanche, is now blocking confirmation, calling the proposed payout a “bogus fund” and saying a majority of Senate Republicans would oppose legislation to authorize it.
Blanche’s nomination was already in trouble after the Judiciary Committee postponed a vote Wednesday, and Trump had earlier threatened to withdraw and resubmit it next year after Cornyn and Tillis leave office.
The fund remains indefinitely blocked by a federal judge, but the fight has widened into a broader clash over a settlement from Trump’s IRS lawsuit, including audit-immunity terms for Trump and family members.