WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to his allies if two Republican holdouts will not support his nominee for attorney general, injecting fresh uncertainty into a and underscoring once more his interest in securing payouts for supporters who feel unjustly persecuted.
Trump asserted in his Truth Social post that he would keep acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in his current role and press ahead on the 鈥淎nti-Weaponization Fund鈥� if Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina refuse to back the former federal prosecutor who was key member of Trump鈥檚 defense team when the Republican battled four indictments.
but both lawmakers have protested Blanche’s selection because of a lawsuit settlement that created a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who feel mistreated by the criminal justice system and provided Trump and family members with immunity from tax audits.
In a sign of apparent progress Friday, Trump pronounced the fund 鈥渄ead.鈥� As negotiations continued into the night, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, rescheduled a committee vote for Blanche that had been postponed earlier in the week.
A spokesperson for the committee said Grassley, R-Iowa, would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess and that putting the Tuesday vote on the calendar 鈥済ives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President鈥檚 nominee.鈥�
But by Saturday morning, those plans were in jeopardy with a new announcement from Trump that appeared to put the fund back on the table 鈥� and dinged the two senators who are leaving Capitol Hill when their terms end in January.
鈥淚f Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn鈥檛 Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren鈥檛 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鈥� to restore the fund. The president insisted, as he previously has, that the fund 鈥渢akes care of those who have been so badly treated鈥� during the administrations of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Tillis, who is , took note of the president’s turnabout by saying in a post on X that despite Trump’s comments Friday, he 鈥渃learly 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.鈥�
He added: 鈥淚t鈥檚 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.”
Blanche had said at a hearing two months ago that the anti-weaponization fund would not move forward after Republican senators revolted and held up an immigration funding bill.
But Tillis and Cornyn, who this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, said they want to ensure that the White House does not reverse course, especially as Trump continues to argue that a fund is needed.
The Department of Justice has provided the senators with language that says Blanche鈥檚 May 18 order establishing the 鈥淎nti-Weaponization Fund鈥� is 鈥渞escinded and shall have no force or effect,鈥� according to a document reviewed by The Associated Press.
Cornyn and Tillis have said they also want some clarifications on a separate piece of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits. Cornyn said this week that it was his understanding that the audits could extend to more than 100 different Trump organization subsidiaries into the future.
鈥淭odd Blanche said it was limited to the parties to the litigation 鈥� and it was retrospective, not prospective,鈥� Cornyn said. 鈥淎nd all we鈥檙e doing is asking them to put that in writing.鈥�
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
