WASHINGTON, July 31 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday defended his proposed “anti-weaponization” fund amid a standoff with fellow Republicans in the Senate that has stalled his bid to get acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche in the role permanently.
“Todd Blanche, a good man, should be immediately approved as U.S. Attorney General,” Trump wrote in a social media post, one day after threatening to withdraw the nomination until next year after two key opposing senators leave office.
He also continued to defend the fund, writing: “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!”
Republican Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have held up Blanche’s nomination while seeking written assurances that the Justice Department will not set up the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” program. Trump critics have derided it as a slush fund to reward supporters with taxpayer money.
The two lawmakers, whose Senate terms end in early January, were closer to an agreement after meeting with Blanche late Thursday afternoon, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Blanche has also met with Republican Senator John Curtis.
Despite the dispute, Blanche likely does not need to be confirmed to effectively serve as attorney general for Trump’s remaining term in the White House, given that acting officials can serve as long as their nomination is pending in the Senate and their nomination is not formally rejected or withdrawn.
The “anti-weaponization” fund was crafted as part of a legal settlement between Trump and the Justice Department to resolve his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over allegedly mishandling his tax records, but it was put on hold amid opposition from congressional Republicans.
The fund could benefit Trump allies who have said they were unfairly targeted by the federal government for their involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol after Trump lost his re-election bid in 2020.
Cornyn on Thursday said he was waiting for the Justice Department to formalize assurances that it would not implement the fund. Cornyn and Tillis also object to an IRS deal that would prevent tax audits of Trump and his associates.
Trump, in his post on Friday, also referred to the fund in present tense, writing that it “will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed.”
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )
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