AG Nominee Todd Blanche Clears a Critical Congressional Hurdle

It’s official; the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund is officially, on paper, dead. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has been a point of contention between President Donald Trump an the Senate since the day he was appointed acting AG. His chances of becoming the attorney general started off bad, got worse with the controversial IRS settlement, and seemed as recently as this past weekend to be practically hopeless. But then he suddenly turned it all around.

On Sunday, August 2, Blanche announced he had signed an order officially rescinding the fund and narrowing tax audit protections for the president gained in the IRS settlement. Sure enough, a representative of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), one of two Republican holdouts on the Judiciary Committee, confirmed an agreement had been reached and that Sens. Cornyn and Thom Tillis (R-NC) now supported Blanche’s confirmation.

Congress: No Carte Blanche for Trump or his AG

The whole Todd Blanche issue goes back a few years. In 2023, Blanche left his law firm to work exclusively as Donald Trump’s lead attorney in a few different criminal cases. He stayed in that role until he was confirmed by the Senate in March 2025 as deputy attorney general. Then AG Pam Bondi got the boot, and Trump appointed Blanche to act in her place.

Senators on both sides of the aisle raised concerns over the man’s loyalties. Could he be counted on to lead and independent DOJ, dedicated to justice rather than a single person’s agenda? It didn’t take long for their fears to seem justified. Blanche was appointed acting AG on April 2 of this year, and by May 18, he had established a $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund bankrolled by an agreement with the IRS to settle out of court with the president. A day later, he signed an updated deal that permanently barred the IRS from auditing the Trump family or its businesses.

By the time the president nominated him for the actual lead roll, Blanche’s chances with the Senate seemed slim. Lame duck senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn – two of the 12 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee – immediately rejected his nomination and threatened to vote against him unless the acting AG formally killed the controversial fund and lifted the audit restrictions.

Of course, Trump and Blanche both seemed unwilling to do that, explicitly on paper, despite both saying that they consider the fund dead. As recently as just this weekend, Liberty Nation News reported on the escalation in the situation – Trump’s threat to pull Blanche’s nomination until January, when Cornyn and Tillis would be replaced – and concluded that it seemed quite unlikely the Trump administration would cave.

Yet here we are.

A New Deal – Exception or Rule?

“My team and I have met with committee members and Senators over the past several weeks and addressed any concerns or outstanding questions,” Blanche said in a statement on Sunday. “We have enjoyed good faith discussions, and as a result issue the following order and update with regard to the May IRS settlement. The Department always welcomes and appreciates engagement with all members of Congress.”

And so, the $1.776 billion fund “considered dead” by president trump is now officially dead on paper, and the tax-related protections have been clarified so as to only apply to audits at the time, not any that may come up in the future.

Natalie Yezbick, a spokesperson for Sen. Cornyn, confirmed that the Texas lawmaker is satisfied with the deal and intends to support advancing Blanche to the Senate floor. Sen. Tillis indicated that he would follow Cornyn’s lead.

The committee vote is expected to happen on Tuesday, and now the result seems a foregone conclusion: a 12-10 party-line vote in favor of advancing the nominee for confirmation.

But Blanche and the IRS deal was just one point of contention between Trump and the Senate GOP. So the real question now isn’t will Blanche become the AG – to be fair, that was never really the question at all. As LNN explained, the law as it stands allows the deputy to act in the full capacity of the AG during a vacancy indefinitely, so there’s no real reason Trump’s previous plan to withdraw the nomination and try again with a fresh committee wouldn’t work. But this way will ruffle the feathers of fewer senators who, very likely, can easily see themselves in Cornyn’s or Tillis’ shoes and empathize with their position on this matter.

No, the real question now is whether this is the first step in a renewal of the comradery between Trump and Republican lawmakers or if it’s just an exception the conflict and tension that seem to have become the rule of late.