Trump says anti-weaponization fund in IRS settlement is 'dead' even as
he defends it
[August 01, 2026]
By MARY CLARE JALONICK, SEUNG MIN KIM and ALANNA DURKIN
RICHER
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that his $1.8
billion anti-weaponization fund is “dead” while also continuing to
defend it, further complicating his administration’s negotiations with
two Republican senators who are blocking his attorney general nominee in
protest.
Trump told reporters at Camp David on Friday morning that administration
officials had “agreed not to have a fund” that compensates his political
allies, yet made clear that he disagrees with that decision.
The comments came hours after an early morning social media post in
which Trump said people who had been prosecuted by the Justice
Department — many of them for their involvement in the violent Jan. 6,
2021, attack on the Capitol — “are suffering still, many ruined, and I
felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to
them.”
Trump’s reluctant declaration that the fund won't be created came as
Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina,
both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, say they won’t support
Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general until they see that
promise in writing. They have been working for weeks with the White
House and Blanche, who is now the acting attorney general, to produce a
document to that effect, but both senators have said they aren’t
satisfied so far.
“The President made it clear today that the so-called Anti Weaponization
Fund is still alive, which is exactly why we are attempting to formally
end it,” Tillis said after Trump’s initial social media post.
As negotiations continued late Friday, Senate Judiciary Committee
Chairman Chuck Grassley rescheduled a committee vote for Blanche that
had been postponed earlier in the week.
A spokesperson for the committee said Grassley would like to see Blanche
confirmed before the August recess and putting the Tuesday vote on the
calendar “gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for
the President’s nominee.”
Cornyn, Tillis want promises in writing
Blanche said at a hearing two months ago that the anti-weaponization
fund would not move forward after Republican senators revolted and held
up an immigration funding bill.
But Tillis, who is retiring when his term ends in January, and Cornyn,
who lost reelection this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent,
said they want to ensure that the White House doesn’t reverse course,
especially as Trump continues to argue that a fund is needed.
The Justice Department has provided the senators with language that says
Blanche’s May 18 order establishing the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is
“rescinded and shall have no force or effect,” according to a document
reviewed by The Associated Press.
Cornyn and Tillis have said they also want some clarifications on a
separate piece of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of
his family immunity from tax audits. Cornyn said this week that it was
his understanding that the audits could extend to more than 100
different Trump organization subsidiaries into the future.
“Todd Blanche said it was limited to the parties to the litigation — and
it was retrospective, not prospective,” Cornyn said. “And all we’re
doing is asking them to put that in writing.”
Blanche nomination is delayed in the Senate
The Judiciary Committee postponed the vote on Blanche’s nomination that
had been scheduled for Thursday morning after Tillis and Cornyn said
they needed more from the administration before they could provide the
necessary votes.
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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from
left, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Vice President JD
Vance attend a cabinet meeting, Friday, July 31, 2026, at Camp
David, the presidential retreat, near Thurmont, Md., Friday, July
31, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
After the meeting was delayed, Trump said in a social media post
that he might pull Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn
and Tillis leave office next year. But the two sides continued to
negotiate through Thursday afternoon, when Blanche, Cornyn and
Tillis met on Capitol Hill.
On Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations said talks had
been positive but the senators were still awaiting a new offer from
the Justice Department. The person requested anonymity to discuss
the private negotiations.
The two senators have repeatedly said the Justice Department seemed
interested in reaching an agreement, but the White House wouldn’t
budge even to aid the confirmation of Trump’s loyal former personal
attorney, who has aggressively pursued the administration’s
priorities as acting attorney general.
“I think as far as Blanche and the Department of Justice, we were
pretty much on the same page,” Cornyn said Thursday. “But then when
the president got wind of it, he wasn’t willing to go along with
it.”
Tillis said Blanche “has been forthright, thoughtful and patient”
but attributed the holdup to an “incompetent personal adviser” to
the president, even as Trump himself continued to advocate for the
fund.
Behind the scenes, Trump legal adviser Boris Epshteyn is being
blamed as an obstacle to an agreement that would let Blanche move
forward, according to three people who have direct knowledge of the
discussions and requested anonymity to discuss them.
Saying the AP’s “sources are wrong,” White House communications
director Steven Cheung said “anyone trying to assign blame to the
President or his team has no earthly idea of what is going on and
clearly is trying to deflect from the issue at hand — Todd Blanche
will be an exceptional Attorney General and he should be confirmed
immediately.”
Also on Friday, Trump’s attorneys notified a court it would appeal a
judge’s scathing ruling that characterized the settlement of the
president’s lawsuit against the IRS as an improper exercise in
self-dealing. The judge in her order earlier this month referred one
of Trump’s attorneys for potential disciplinary action and
criticized Blanche’s involvement in the settlement, given his prior
representation of Trump.
Blanche has said he disagrees “with the judge’s insinuations” about
him.
Settlement fund could have benefited Jan. 6 rioters
Even as they are usually deferential to Trump, a number of
Republican senators have expressed strong objections to the
settlement.
“The criminals who assaulted police officers and defiled our
nation’s Capitol are not ‘great American patriots’ who are ‘victims
of government abuse,’” Tillis said, echoing Trump’s comments about
the rioters who could potentially have received payouts. On his
first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who
had been charged in the attack.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Thursday that the
majority of Senate Republicans aren’t comfortable with the
settlement fund.
“Blanche said it’s dead, and he testified that it’s not coming
back,” Kennedy said. “But for whatever reason, somebody didn’t want
to put it in writing.”
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