Late-Night Deal Turbocharges AG Bid

The most powerful law job in America just moved a step closer to a man whose biggest obstacle vanished with one late‑night rescission of a $1.8 billion “anti‑weaponization” fund.

Story Snapshot

Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in a 12-10 party-line vote.
Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis dropped their hold after Blanche killed the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.
The deal clarifies President Trump’s IRS settlement but leaves his controversial tax audit protections intact.
Blanche’s prior Senate-confirmed record and law-and-order image helped steady GOP support despite the storm.

The committee vote that almost did not happen

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 to advance Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general, clearing the first major hurdle between him and the top job at the Justice Department.

Every Democrat on the panel voted no, but Republicans stayed unified after days of internal drama over a $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund tied to Trump’s IRS settlement. That narrow margin turned on two Republicans who had publicly warned they were ready to block Blanche unless the fund was shut down.

Todd Blanche's nomination for Attorney General officially advances to the Senate floor following a 12-10 committee vote after key GOP holdouts backed the nominee! pic.twitter.com/GK2QwKlfUK

— MEAWW News (@meawwcom) August 5, 2026

Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina held the keys to Blanche’s future. Both sit on the Judiciary Committee, and either one could have broken the GOP’s slim advantage there. Their concern was not just the size of the Anti-Weaponization Fund.

They worried the money could flow to people convicted of crimes linked to January 6 and other political cases, turning a legal settlement into a payback machine for Trump allies. For common-sense conservatives, that sounded less like justice and more like a taxpayer-funded grievance program.

The late-night deal that drove a stake through the fund

The standoff broke when Blanche issued a new Justice Department order late Sunday, just hours before the committee vote. That order formally rescinded his earlier directive creating the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund and declared it “dead.”

Cornyn celebrated the move as having “driven a stake through the heart” of the weaponization fund, signaling he now trusted that the program would not quietly come back on his watch. Tillis likewise shifted from skeptic to supporter once the rescission was in writing and not just a promise from an acting attorney general.

Blanche’s order did more than kill the fund. It issued interpretive guidance narrowing how Trump’s IRS settlement would be read inside the government. The new language said the immunity provision covered only audits of past tax years and applied only to Trump, his two eldest sons, and the Trump Organization.

That framing tried to calm fears that the deal gave blanket immunity to a wide circle of political allies. Cornyn and Tillis treated those clarifications, plus the fund’s demise, as enough to let the nomination move forward, even if they still had concerns about the optics.

What still stands behind Trump’s IRS deal

Even after the committee vote, one part of the IRS settlement remained firmly in place: sweeping limits on future tax audits of Trump and his core business circle.

The settlement, reached when Blanche was acting attorney general, shields Trump, his two oldest sons, and the Trump Organization from new Internal Revenue Service audits of past returns tied to the leak case, according to public reporting.

That is an extraordinary protection for any taxpayer, let alone a sitting president with complex finances and long-running political battles over his taxes.

Critics argue this kind of special treatment offends equal treatment under the law. Many on the right believe the tax code should be tough but fair, not bent as a favor to insiders.

From that lens, the fund was a bridge too far because it turned a legal settlement into cash payments for handpicked “victims” of supposed government weaponization.

Rescinding the fund reduced the worst excess, but the underlying immunity deal still pushes against the idea that everyone plays by the same tax rules, whether they live in a trailer park or Trump Tower.

Blanche’s record and the law-and-order framing

Republican leaders tried to frame Blanche not as Trump’s fixer, but as a law-and-order nominee with a record of backing core Justice Department priorities.

Senator Chuck Grassley reminded colleagues that the Senate had already confirmed Blanche as deputy attorney general in 2025 by a 52-46 vote, trusting him with oversight of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other major law enforcement agencies.

Grassley highlighted support from crime victims’ families and “Angel Families” who credited Blanche’s team with pushing tough-on-crime policies.

That prior confirmation matters politically. It gives GOP senators cover to say they are not endorsing every detail of the IRS settlement, but they still believe Blanche meets the basic standard for leading the department.

For conservatives, the question becomes: is Blanche a flawed but capable lawman who fixed a bad fund once it was exposed, or is he the architect of a sweetheart deal that should disqualify him? The committee vote shows most Republicans chose the first view, especially after he reversed the fund and narrowed the guidance.

Why this fight feels familiar — and what comes next

This clash fits a growing pattern in Washington: complex executive-branch settlements turn into political firefights once they touch a president’s personal interests. Critics call the deals corrupt or politicized.

Supporters answer that settlements are normal and then scramble to issue clarifying memos, rescissions, and side letters to calm the backlash. Blanche’s path tracks that playbook almost step by step. First came the IRS deal and fund, then the outrage, then the judge’s skepticism, then the political fix needed to save his nomination.

That fix worked, at least for now. With the committee’s 12-10 vote, Blanche’s nomination heads to the full Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow majority and the White House is loudly demanding quick confirmation. The Anti-Weaponization Fund is gone, but Trump’s tax audit protections still stand, and the settlement text itself remains shielded from public view.

For voters who care about equal justice, the open question is simple and sharp: did the Senate just confirm that if you are powerful enough, you can still write your own rules — and get the nation’s top cop job afterwards?