Attorney General Todd Blanche says the controversial $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund "is dead" and never paid out a cent, but Senate Democrats insist loopholes remain.
Blanche made the declaration on "Fox News Sunday," telling host Shannon Bream that the fund he originally authorized in May has been formally rescinded and will not return. No commissioners were ever appointed to oversee it. No claimants received money. The program, designed to compensate Americans who say they were politically persecuted by the Justice Department, existed on paper for weeks before Blanche pulled the plug under pressure from both parties.
The fund's swift rise and collapse tells a familiar Washington story: a bold executive action meets bipartisan resistance, and the resulting deal reshapes a confirmation fight. Blanche rescinded his own May order authorizing the fund as part of an agreement with Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, whose votes he needed to clear the Senate. The chamber confirmed him 50, 49.
Lawmakers in both parties had raised alarms that the $1.776 billion fund could funnel taxpayer dollars to people charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. That concern proved politically fatal for the proposal. Blanche backed off before his confirmation vote, and Cornyn and Tillis came aboard.
Blanche officially took on the full-time attorney general role on Aug. 10. Earlier in the week, he had already stated publicly that "there were never commissioners" running the fund and that no money reached any claimant. His Sunday appearance reinforced that message in the plainest terms yet.
"No, the fund is dead or whatever word you want to use. It never started. So, it's not as if the fund is coming back."
That was Blanche on "Fox News Sunday," leaving no ambiguity about the program's status.
Senate Democrats are not satisfied. Their argument: Blanche rescinded one order, but the Justice Department still has other funds and mechanisms that could accomplish the same goal through a different door. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey made that case last week in characteristically colorful language.
"It's hard for me to say this as a plant-based guy, but where's the beef?... This is ridiculous. We got nothing, no guarantees whatsoever that this slush fund still can't go forward. We got nothing that the president of the United States can't cheat on his taxes and have no accountability."
Booker's "slush fund" label and his accusation about the president's taxes are his own characterizations, not established facts. But the underlying question, whether DOJ retains avenues to replicate the fund under a different name, remains unanswered. Democrats have pointed to what they describe as loopholes, though the specific mechanisms they cite have not been detailed publicly.
The original fund had drawn scrutiny almost from the moment it was announced. When the administration launched the program, it triggered immediate questions about who would qualify and how claims would be evaluated. The prospect that Jan. 6 defendants might seek payouts gave Republicans like Cornyn enough pause to demand the fund's withdrawal as a condition of their votes.
Blanche drew a clear line between killing the fund and abandoning the broader argument behind it. He told Bream that President Trump continues to believe the Justice Department was weaponized against many Americans, and that the president has made that case repeatedly, on the campaign trail and as recently as this month.
"He's talked about that on the campaign trail and up to this very recently. He will not stop saying that, and guess what? I agree with him."
That distinction matters. The fund may be dead, but the grievance that produced it is not. Blanche is signaling that while the specific $1.776 billion mechanism is off the table, the administration's view that federal law enforcement was turned against political opponents remains a core conviction, one the attorney general personally shares.
Blanche also addressed Trump's lawsuit against the IRS during the interview, stating that neither the president nor his family has received "a dime" from the settlement in that case. The confirmation fight itself had been contentious, with some Republican senators initially hesitant and the final vote coming down to a single margin.
The razor-thin vote underscored how much political capital Blanche spent, and how much he had to concede, to win the job. Rescinding the anti-weaponization fund was the price of entry. Sen. Bill Cassidy cast what amounted to the deciding vote, and the entire episode illustrated how narrow the administration's Senate margin really is on Justice Department matters.
Several open questions remain. No one has publicly identified which "other funds and other measures" within DOJ might serve as alternatives to the rescinded program. It is unclear whether any individuals formally submitted claims before the order was pulled. And the specific loophole that Democrats say could allow the fund to resurface in court has not been spelled out in detail.
For now, Blanche's message is simple: the fund never operated, never paid anyone, and will not come back. Whether Democrats' warnings about backdoor alternatives amount to genuine oversight or political positioning is a question the Senate will have to press in the months ahead.
Killing a $1.776 billion program before it ever cut a check is the easy part. The harder question, whether the Justice Department was in fact weaponized, and what the right remedy looks like, is one this administration clearly has no intention of dropping.