US Domestic — 2026-08-03

Cornyn Secures Deal to Terminate 1.8 Billion Dollar DOJ Anti-Weaponization Fund Clearing Path for Blanche Confirmation

BLUFCornyn's insistence on a binding written order very likely secures Blanche's committee advancement by Tuesday and forecloses unilateral White House revival of the fund.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed a written order late Sunday formally rescinding the Justice Department's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund," stating "there is no fund" 12. The order also clarified that tax-audit immunity granted to Trump and his family under the May IRS settlement applies "only retroactively" and is limited to named parties in the lawsuit 13. Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who had blocked Blanche's nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee pending written assurances, said the order met their demands and that they would vote to advance it 34. A Cornyn spokesperson said the DOJ agreed to a formal, binding order limiting the audit settlement's scope to the plaintiffs, the IRS and the Treasury 4, and the Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on Blanche's nomination Tuesday 12.

Analysis
The Judiciary Committee will very likely advance Blanche's nomination Tuesday now that Cornyn and Tillis have tied their votes to a binding written order rather than verbal assurances, foreclosing any unilateral White House revival of the fund by folding rescission into the settlement record itself. High confidence rests on the senators' joint public commitment and on order language directly answering Cornyn's committee objections, with three independently reporting outlets converging across an ideologically diverse press corps. Where the fund's fate once hinged on a pending court ruling, DOJ has now mooted that litigation through internal administrative action tied to confirmation politics, though the order remains a unilateral executive act a future attorney general, or Blanche himself, could reverse under renewed pressure. Advancing the nomination Tuesday clears confirmation before the five-week recess and ends DOJ's acting-capacity leadership gap; stalling forces Trump to wait out Cornyn's and Tillis's departures or pull and renominate.

5 sources