Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has a blunt message about the nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” settlement fund that critics have spent months attacking: it is not happening. Testifying before the senators weighing his confirmation, Blanche said flatly that the fund “is just not moving forward” and that it “never started.” Yet the very plan he insists is dead is the single biggest obstacle standing between him and a confirmed spot atop the Justice Department.
Where the $1.8 Billion Came From
The fund was never a line item Congress approved. It grew out of a proposed settlement of one of President Trump’s own lawsuits — a roughly $10 billion claim he brought over the leaked disclosure of his tax returns. Under the proposal, money from the U.S. Treasury would have been set aside to compensate people who say the federal government was “weaponized” against them.
Officials described the purpose in careful language: compensating “individuals claiming political persecution.” Critics used blunter words, calling it a taxpayer-funded pot to reward Trump’s supporters and allies. Either way, the mechanics raised alarms — a sitting administration steering public money toward people who allege they were targeted, with the president himself among the original plaintiffs.
Blanche Says It ‘Never Started’
At his July 2026 confirmation hearing, Blanche tried to close the door. “The settlement fund is just not moving forward. There’s no modification. It never started,” he testified. He went further in remarks reported afterward, saying the department is “not moving forward with the fund, period.”
His phrasing matters. Blanche is not describing an order that shut down an active program. There was no money disbursed and no operating fund to terminate — a federal court had already paused the plan before it could take effect. What Blanche is doing is declaring a proposal dead, not signing a document that killed a running one. It is a distinction that has done little to satisfy his skeptics.
The Two Republicans Holding Up His Confirmation
Here is the twist: the fund Blanche calls dead is exactly what is stalling his nomination. Two Republican senators — John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — have held up his confirmation over it. Cornyn has signaled he wants the changes spelled out in writing, along with clarity on protections against politically motivated audits, before he is willing to sign off.
That leaves Blanche in an unusual position. He is running the Justice Department in an acting capacity, not yet confirmed by the Senate, while the fight over a fund he says will never operate keeps his nomination in limbo. A verbal assurance in a hearing room, senators have made clear, is not the same as a binding, written commitment.
Trump Threatens to Bring It Back
And the story is far from settled. As of late July, Trump was publicly threatening to revive the fund and signaling that if the Senate refuses to confirm Blanche, he would simply keep him on as acting attorney general. In other words, a plan officials call finished is still being waved around as leverage — both to pressure holdout senators and to keep a loyal ally atop the DOJ.
That is why this is not a tidy victory or a closed case. It is an unresolved standoff. Blanche says the fund is dead. The senators want proof. The president is hinting he could bring it back to life. All three things are true at once.
What This Means for Americans
Strip away the procedural fog and the stakes are simple. The debate is over whether roughly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money should be routed to people — including political allies of the president — who claim they were persecuted by the government. That money comes from the Treasury, which means it comes from the public. Whether the fund is permanently shelved or quietly revived after the confirmation fight is not just Washington intrigue; it is a question about who gets paid, and who pays.
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