President Donald Trump said early Saturday he would push to get the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” codified into law if the Senate does not confirm his attorney general pick, Todd Blanche.
The fund has emerged as a key issue stalling Blanche’s confirmation, with Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who are both departing the Senate after the midterms, withholding their support in the Senate Judiciary Committee unless the White House commits to shelving the proposal in writing.
Now, Trump says the fund is back on the table, and maybe he’ll even keep Blanche on in an acting capacity if he can’t get his way in Congress next week.
“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,” he wrote.
“Todd Blanche was a voice of reason!” Trump wrote. “It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done.”
The missive comes a day after Trump reluctantly declared the fund “dead” in a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, making Saturday’s post a notable reversal in tactics as he moves from a negotiating posture to digging his heels in.
The fund stems from a settlement negotiated earlier this year that envisioned roughly $1.8 billion being doled out in payments to people who claimed they were unfairly targeted by the federal government during the Biden administration, which could include everyone from people who broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and assaulted police officers to Hunter Biden.
The Justice Department has since indicated it does not intend to move forward with the payments, with Blanche testifying before a congressional committee in June, “We’re not moving forward with the fund, period.”
But Tillis on Saturday wrote that the president’s latest social media barb was proof that he “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.”
“It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal,” the two-term North Carolina senator wrote.
But he teased that a deal may not yet be out of reach: “Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday.”
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