Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally rescinded the Justice Department order that created a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” late Sunday, ending months of pressure over a pot of money the Trump administration built to potentially compensate the president’s allies and people charged in the January 6th attack on the Capitol. He did not do it because the fund was indefensible. He did it because it was the last obstacle standing between him and Senate confirmation.
The order Blanche posted to X states that the May directive establishing the fund is rescinded and carries no force or effect, which is the written commitment Republican senators had been demanding for weeks. In an accompanying statement, Blanche said he was formalizing testimony he had already given under oath and that no members were appointed to direct the fund and no claims were ever paid from it.
The money originated in a settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service, a resolution of the president’s own lawsuit over the leak of his tax returns. A federal judge had already dismissed the $10 billion claim Trump filed against the agency before the deal came together. It was the first known instance of a sitting president reaching a financial settlement with the government he runs.
Cornyn And Tillis Were Refusing To Endorse The Nomination
Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina were the holdouts. Both are leaving the Senate at the end of this term because Trump came after them, Cornyn after losing his primary to a Trump-endorsed challenger and Tillis after announcing his retirement under threat of one.
A spokesperson for Cornyn confirmed the deal, saying the department would issue a binding document permanently terminating the fund and clarifying that the audit settlement covers only the plaintiffs named in the original lawsuit.
That clarification matters because the settlement included an addendum that shielded Trump, his relatives, and his companies from ongoing tax audits. Reporting on the new order notes that the department’s narrower reading of that immunity does not appear to bind Trump’s personal lawyers or his family, which leaves the practical scope of the protection unresolved.
The Reversal Isn’t Necessarily Permanent
The reversal is also less permanent than it sounds. Legal experts say a future attorney general could reinstate the fund with a new order. Supporters of the original plan have pointed out that nothing in the rescission specifically bars the department from making payouts to Trump backers who assaulted police officers on January 6th. And Trump himself said over the weekend that he intends to push Congress to write the fund into law, while insisting Blanche will remain in the acting role even if the Senate refuses to confirm him.
Trump has never wavered on the underlying premise. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday evening, he defended the fund as compensation for people targeted by the Justice Department under the previous administration.
There’s Still The Possibility Blanche Will Not Be Confirmed
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Blanche’s nomination Tuesday. Even if it advances, he faces a floor vote where a handful of Republicans could sink him.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has said she wants to evaluate the nomination fully once it clears committee, and other members of the conference have raised concerns about Blanche’s previous work as Trump’s personal defense attorney and his public statements about January 6th.
Blanche has run the department in an acting capacity since April, when Trump fired Pam Bondi.
What happened here was not oversight working. It was two senators with nothing left to lose extracting a piece of paper on their way out the door.
The $1.8 billion is still an idea the president wants Congress to fund, the tax-immunity questions remain unanswered, and the man who signed the original order is about to be confirmed to run the Justice Department permanently.