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The deal has a price. And Washington just made sure you know exactly what it cost.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche quietly issued a signed order Sunday night officially rescinding the Justice Department's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" — a fund his own agency created just months ago as part of a settlement between President Trump and his own IRS. The move came two days before the Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to vote on his nomination to be the permanent attorney general of the United States. The timing was not a coincidence.
Two Republican senators — Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas — had been holding Blanche's confirmation hostage for weeks, demanding written assurances that the fund, which could use taxpayer cash to compensate those harmed by government persecution like the January 6 defendants, was dead. For weeks, Blanche testified it was inactive. Trump threatened Saturday to "push hard" to revive it anyway. By Sunday night, the fund had been formally killed — and Cornyn and Tillis announced Monday they would vote to advance the nomination.
"This order establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no fund," Blanche's signed order read. In a joint statement, the two GOP holdouts said they were "pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund" and that they "look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon." What the statement left out: both senators are already on their way out of Congress — Cornyn lost his primary to Trump-backed challenger Ken Paxton, and Tillis retired after Trump threatened a primary challenge against him. They had nothing left to lose.
The anti-weaponization fund was born out of an unprecedented arrangement: Trump sued the IRS, then settled with his own Justice Department, creating a fund that could compensate individuals — including Jan. 6 riot participants — for alleged government overreach. The settlement also shielded the Trump family from tax audits going forward. Legal experts noted at the time it was the first known instance of a sitting president suing the government he leads and winning a financial settlement from his own appointed prosecutors. Now that same DOJ has reversed course — but experts warn the order could be reinstated at any time with a new signature.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has still not committed her support, and in a chamber where Republicans can afford almost no defections, a handful of dissenters could still derail the nomination when it reaches the full Senate floor. But the immediate obstacle — the Judiciary Committee vote — appears cleared.
