Trump will push for anti-weaponization fund if Blanche not confirmed, he says
Todd Blanche previously repeatedly told Congress the anti-weaponization fund was "dead."
Updated on: August 1, 2026 / 8:11 AM EDT / CBS News
President Trump delivered an ultimatum to Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn on Saturday, telling them to stop stalling on confirming Todd Blanche as attorney general or he would push again to make his anti-weaponization fund a reality.
Tillis and Cornyn have refused to vote for Blanche as the full-time attorney general unless it is put in writing that Mr. Trump will no longer pursue the anti-weaponization fund, a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people who claim they were politically persecuted, which was announced in May as part of a settlement to resolve Mr. Trump's lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Trump not only said the anti-weaponization fund was off the table, but he would keep Blanche in the acting AG role and push to pass the fund if the two senators who oppose it don't vote for Blanche.
"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," the president wrote Saturday morning on Truth Social .
He added, "Todd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done."