President Donald Trump delivered an ultimatum to U.S. Senators Cbsnews and AP News, telling them to stop stalling on confirming reuters.com as attorney general or he would push again to make his anti-weaponization fund a reality, according to Cbsnews. The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote for Blanche on Tuesday at 9 a.m., following a delay caused by the Republican holdouts, as reported by Cbsnews, AP News, and Reuters.
Trump Issues Ultimatum to Republican Senators Over Blanche Nomination
Senators Tillis and Cornyn have refused to vote for Blanche as full-time attorney general unless it is put in writing that the administration will no longer pursue the nearly $1.8 billion fund, according to Cbsnews. The fund was designed to pay people who claim they were politically persecuted during the administrations of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, or who feel they were targeted for their involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to Cbsnews, AP News, and Reuters.
Stalemate Over the Anti-Weaponization Fund and Tax Audit Immunity
The controversial payout pot was announced in May as part of a settlement to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit brought by mediaite.com against the Internal Revenue Service over the mishandling of tax records leaked by an IRS contractor, according to Cbsnews, AP News, and Reuters. Critics have derided the pool as a slush fund that would reward supporters with taxpayer money, while a federal judge temporarily blocked the mechanism in May to allow time to consider longer-term relief for plaintiffs represented by Democracy Forward, according to Cbsnews and Reuters.
Beyond the fund itself, Cornyn and Tillis have demanded clarifications regarding a separate section of the settlement that would grant Trump and family members immunity from future tax audits, according to AP News. Cornyn stated that he understood the audits could potentially extend to more than 100 different Trump organization subsidiaries into the future, whereas Blanche maintained the immunity was limited to parties to the litigation and was retrospective rather than prospective, according to AP News and Mediaite.
Weighing Acting Status Against Senate Confirmation
During a confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, mediaite.com testified that the weaponization fund is dead and not moving forward, telling mediaite.com that no money went from the Treasury to any other account, according to Cbsnews and Mediaite. However, Cbsnews later asserted in a social media post that if the two senators continue to block Blanche, he will keep Blanche in the acting attorney general role and push hard to pass the fund through Congress, according to Cbsnews and AP News.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman AP News stated that he would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess because of his record on law and order, noting that rescheduling the vote gives the White House more time to secure support, according to Cbsnews and AP News. Despite the legislative gridlock, acting officials can serve as long as their nomination is pending in the Senate and is not formally rejected or withdrawn, according to Reuters.
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