Trump tells Cornyn, Tillis he will push for ‘Anti-Weaponization’ bill if Blanche not confirmed
President Donald Trump on Saturday said he will “push hard” to get a bill passed that would create his controversial “Anti-Weaponization” fund if two Republican lawmakers don’t vote to approve Todd Blanche as Attorney General.
This week, Trump threatened to temporarily withdraw Blanche’s nomination after Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina blocked the Senate Judiciary Committee from advancing it. Instead, he said he’d send it back to the Senate after both lawmakers leave office next year.
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“If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t 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,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization fund was announced earlier this year as part of a settlement from Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The president sued the IRS over a contract worker’s leak of documents concerning his tax returns in 2019.
As part of the settlement, the Justice Department said it would administer the fund designed to compensate people who claim they were targeted by a “weaponized” justice system. The fund immediately saw backlash as it could benefit the president’s allies and people connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. It was ultimately blocked by a federal judge.
Cornyn and Tillis both said they want changes to the Justice Department settlement put in writing before they’ll support Blanche’s nomination. These changes include confirming that the Anti-Weaponization fund has been eliminated, and narrowing language related to tax protections.
Trump acknowledged the legal challenges on Friday while still indicating he wanted to revive the fund, saying at Camp David that the fund “is dead, but you know I wish it weren’t, to be honest with you.”
“Despite 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,” Tillis said on X Saturday. “It’s 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.”
Tuesday is when Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley rescheduled the vote on Blanche’s nomination, after a previous vote from Thursday was postponed.
“Chairman Grassley wants Todd Blanche’s nomination to be successful,” a Judiciary Committee spokesperson, told Politico. “Noticing the markup gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee.”
Trump argued on Truth Social Thursday that only Cornyn and Tillis opposed the nomination. Cornyn, though, said on X the president “is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.”