Trump threatens fund revival over GOP block of AG nominee

President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum on Saturday, August 1, threatening to revive a controversial $1.8 billion fund if two Republican senators do not cease their blockade of his nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche. The escalating standoff has forced the Senate Judiciary Committee to postpone and reschedule a confirmation vote, leaving the Justice Department under indefinite acting leadership amid a bitter intraparty dispute.

The central conflict stems from a legal settlement announced on May 18 between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service, which resolved a lawsuit the president filed over the handling of his tax returns. The agreement included provisions granting Trump, his family, and his businesses broad immunity from certain past tax investigations and established the "anti-weaponization" fund. The fund was designed to compensate individuals who claim they were unfairly targeted by the federal government for political reasons, a description Trump has used to include supporters prosecuted for their roles in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Republican Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have withheld their votes for Blanche's...