Trump defends fund as Blanche nomination stalls

President Donald Trump defended a proposed $1.8 billion Justice Department fund for his supporters Friday, even as the controversy continued to stall Todd Blanche’s nomination to become U.S. attorney general.

Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer, has been serving as acting attorney general since Trump fired Pam Bondi in April. Trump has nominated him to take the job permanently, but a Senate Judiciary Committee vote to advance the nomination was postponed this week after two Republican senators demanded written assurances about the Justice Department proposal.

The fund was part of agreements to resolve Trump’s long-shot $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Under the proposed arrangement, the Justice Department would create a fund with no restrictions on payouts to allies of the president and bar the IRS from auditing Trump’s tax returns.

Democrats and some government watchdogs have called the proposal a slush fund and warned it could be used to compensate defendants convicted for their roles in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Talking Points Memo reported that legal challenges to the fund remain pending, while the Trump administration’s position before Congress and in court has been that the fund is “dead.” Blanche later said the fund was dead after intense backlash.

Trump, however, continued to defend the idea in a Truth Social post Friday while urging the Senate to confirm Blanche. Blanche “should be immediately approved,” Trump wrote.

“They are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them,” Trump wrote of his supporters, whom he described as “a group of people treated so badly in our Nation’s history.” He added: “I gave up any payments for myself, which would have been substantial … I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!”

The nomination has run into resistance from Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both Republicans on the Judiciary Committee. They have sought written assurances that the fund will never be activated before backing Blanche’s confirmation, The Guardian reported. Blanche has not provided that assurance.

Cornyn has also sought a written guarantee related to the IRS provision. According to Talking Points Memo, citing The New York Times, Cornyn and Tillis are not seeking to eliminate the broader settlement agreement that gave Trump, his family and his businesses immunity potentially worth at least $100 million in penalties. Instead, Cornyn wants the Justice Department to put in writing what Blanche said under oath at his confirmation hearing: that the IRS immunity would apply only to Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization, and only to audits of past tax returns.

“All we’re doing is asking them to put that in writing,” Cornyn said, according to Talking Points Memo. Cornyn told ABC News: “The fact that they’re balking at putting that in writing tells me that they were hoping to get by with this settlement agreement and his testimony, and then revitalize those provisions at a later date. And that’s, I don’t think, good faith negotiations.”

Trump singled out Cornyn in his Friday post. “John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called ‘Fund’ … until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent,” Trump wrote. The Guardian reported that Cornyn’s opponent, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, defeated him by roughly 28 points in May, ending Cornyn’s Senate career and making him the first Texas Republican senator to lose a renomination bid.

Blanche previously represented Trump in the New York hush-money case and other criminal matters before joining the Justice Department as Bondi’s deputy. Judiciary Committee Democrats have said Blanche privately told Sen. Dick Durbin that pushing for the fund had been a mistake. He has also faced questions over his firm’s past payments from a Trump-aligned political action committee and his handling of the Epstein files.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he expects Blanche’s nomination to return for a vote once Cornyn and Tillis are satisfied. Trump has said he is willing to pull Blanche’s name temporarily and resubmit it later, once Cornyn and Tillis are “out of office,” while keeping Blanche as acting attorney general.