Cornyn and Tillis Drop Blockade on Blanche After DOJ Kills $1.8 Billion Fund in Writing

Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced Monday they will support Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general, ending a weeks-long standoff that had Blanche's nomination teetering and President Trump publicly threatening to pull it altogether.

The holdup was never about Blanche personally. It was about a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund tied to a $10 billion lawsuit Trump filed against his own government, intended to compensate people the administration says were unjustly targeted by the Biden and Obama Justice Departments. Cornyn and Tillis worried that fund, as originally structured, could end up paying out to Trump allies convicted of assaulting police officers during the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, according to ground.news.

Blanche had said back in June that the DOJ wasn't moving forward with the fund. But saying it and putting it in writing are different things, and Cornyn and Tillis wanted the latter. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley postponed a planned committee vote when it became clear the two senators wouldn't budge, according to The Daily Beast.

That written confirmation finally came Monday. Blanche formally terminated the $1.776 billion fund and issued a signed order narrowing IRS audit immunity so it applies only retroactively to Trump and his sons, not to anyone else, and not to future tax returns, according to ground.news. Cornyn and Tillis said in a joint statement they "are pleased" with the DOJ's order and thanked Blanche and his staff "for working with us on this."

That clears the path for the Senate Judiciary Committee to advance Blanche's nomination on Tuesday, with a full Senate floor vote potentially coming as soon as this Saturday, according to ground.news.

How we got here

This fight got personal fast. Trump endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Cornyn in the state's Republican Senate primary, and Paxton won easily. Trump then accused Cornyn of only turning against the anti-weaponization fund out of spite over the primary loss.

"John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called 'Fund'... until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas," Trump wrote on Truth Social, according to heartlandernews. He called Blanche "a good man" who "should be immediately approved."

At a Cabinet meeting the same week, Trump accused Cornyn of turning Blanche into a "pawn," while also saying he didn't really blame him. "I endorsed his opponent. And as soon as I endorsed his opponent, his opponent went through the roof and he won the primary election in Texas for Senate," Trump said, according to heartlandernews.

Trump also floated a riskier move: temporarily withdrawing Blanche's nomination and resubmitting it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office in January, since both are retiring and won't seek reelection. "I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name, if they do not do the right thing," Trump wrote, according to The Daily Beast. That plan carried real risk, since Republicans could lose Senate control after the November midterms, potentially leaving Blanche's confirmation stuck for good.

The substance behind the standoff

Cornyn and Tillis's underlying concern warranted serious consideration. The anti-weaponization fund, as originally conceived, would have compensated people the administration considers victims of politically motivated prosecution. Critics, including the two senators, argued that without tight guardrails, that pool of money could flow to individuals convicted of violent crimes on January 6, an outcome that would be difficult to defend to the broader public regardless of party.

Trump's position is that people genuinely harmed by what he calls Biden-era "lawfare" deserve compensation. "I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused... and I'd like to see them compensated for the pain," he told reporters, according to heartlandernews.

What resolved the standoff wasn't a change in Trump's underlying view. It was Blanche formalizing, in a signed DOJ order, that the fund is dead and that audit protections are narrowly scoped to Trump and his immediate family, not a broader shield for allies or a mechanism that could later be revived administratively.

Fox News framed the episode primarily as Trump's rebels finally falling in line, while The Daily Beast emphasized Trump's Truth Social tirade. The actual resolution was procedural: Cornyn and Tillis got their written guarantees, the DOJ made them public, and the nomination is now moving toward a floor vote.