{"id":6059,"date":"2026-08-04T06:38:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:38:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6059"},"modified":"2026-08-04T06:38:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T06:38:07","slug":"completely-hollow-critics-denounce-blanche-deal-to-halt-trump-slush-fund-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6059","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Completely hollow\u2019: critics denounce Blanche deal to halt Trump slush fund"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"8557f086-17af-43e9-aa1e-a1bd08d9fc00\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche looks to the side with a serious expression\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/2b9ed51b4db337236f6799d433c50f0358c26520\/0_0_4142_2759\/master\/4142.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"309.73804925156924\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Todd Blanche at a cabinet meeting at Camp David last week.<\/span> Photograph: Daniel Heuer\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"8557f086-17af-43e9-aa1e-a1bd08d9fc00\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Todd Blanche at a cabinet meeting at Camp David last week.<\/span> Photograph: Daniel Heuer\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">\u2018Completely hollow\u2019: critics denounce Blanche deal to halt Trump slush fund<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Democrats say agreement \u2013 which clears way for Blanche\u2019s confirmation \u2013 makes promises president can easily reverse<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A compromise between Todd Blanche and two Republican senators that potentially cleared the way for Blanche\u2019s confirmation as attorney general is weak, Democrats and several experts said, as it makes promises Donald Trump can easily reverse.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Blanche, the acting attorney general, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/DAGToddBlanche\/status\/2084114427813437897?s=20\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">posted two documents<\/a> on Sunday evening showing he was withdrawing an 18 May order allowing for the creation of a $1.8bn weaponization fund and clarifying that broad tax immunity the justice department granted to Trump only applied retroactively to the president, his sons, and businesses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The agreement stemmed from a deal worked out with senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, two Republicans who had threatened <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/30\/todd-blanche-attorney-general-doj-nomination-trump\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">to block<\/a> Blanche\u2019s nomination. Cornyn and Tillis said on Monday they would support Blanche when his vote comes up for the Senate judiciary committee Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cWe are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund,\u201d Cornyn and Tillis said. \u201cAdditionally, the department has acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">But legal experts and Democrats said what Blanche announced Sunday was far from ironclad and left room for Trump to resurrect the fund.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThese assurances are not worth the paper they\u2019re written on,\u201d Brandon DeBot, policy director at the Tax Law Center at NYU, said in a statement. \u201cThey don\u2019t pull back on the ongoing attempts to give the president, his family, and his affiliates unauthorized immunity from tax audits. They don\u2019t do anything new to stop the president from trying to bring back the fund, as he threatened to this weekend. It\u2019s abundantly clear we need congressional action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the judiciary committee, said: \u201cCornyn and Tillis seem to have gotten nothing. The tax immunity deal is still unlimited in terms of tax control liability, and the slush fund, or the thug fund, as I call it, is still alive and well so far as Donald Trump is concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The documents Blanche released only say the prior justice department order creating the weaponization fund is rescinded. It does not modify the original settlement agreement creating the fund, reached as the result of a Trump lawsuit seeking billions in damages for the unauthorized release of his tax returns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In brief comments to reporters, Tillis defended his and Cornyn\u2019s deals, saying the weaponization fund is \u201crescinded to death\u201d and that the Texas senator had assured him \u201cit would be very difficult for anybody to construe it as some sort of get out of audit free for any kind of future matter\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThat\u2019s enough for me,\u201d Tillis said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Blanche acknowledged during his confirmation hearing that Trump or his sons \u2013 the plaintiffs in the case \u2013 could theoretically sue to enforce the agreement. Trump spent the weekend praising the slush fund, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/01\/senate-committee-todd-blanche-attorney-general-nomination\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">even threatened to revive it<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Trump again praised the fund on Monday, saying: \u201cThese people were treated so horribly, and this fund could\u2019ve given them some solace.\u201d He added that he had not seen Blanche\u2019s agreement. \u201cI don\u2019t know what they agreed to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House judiciary committee, said Blanche\u2019s announcement does nothing to prevent the justice department and Trump from creating the weaponization fund under a different name.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Raskin said: \u201cThese hollow words are an affront to the American people, Congress and the courts, and are clearly designed to lull Senators Cornyn and Tillis into a false sense that their legitimate concerns have been addressed while leaving Blanche\u2019s corrupt scheme fully intact.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Even if the department does not move ahead with the fund, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/oct\/29\/trump-justice-department-230m-legal-claims\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">there is another path<\/a> for January 6 defendants to receive a payout from the federal government. A once-obscure process under the Federal Tort Claims Act allows anyone to seek damages from the federal government, first by filing a claim and then through a lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The justice department has wide discretion over whether to settle those lawsuits and some January 6 defendants are already moving through the process <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jun\/17\/january-6-defendants-compensation-process\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">with claims for millions of dollars<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThis supposed \u2018deal\u2019 doesn\u2019t prevent payouts to violent insurrectionists in the future,\u201d Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and member of the senate judiciary committee, said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenAdamSchiff\/status\/2084297102125883664?s=20\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">post on X<\/a>. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t prevent the admin from bringing the slush fund back from the dead next week or using DOJ\u2019s Judgment Fund for the same illicit purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Republicans and Democrats have harshly criticized the weaponization fund and the tax immunity deal ever since they were announced in mid-May. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/may\/18\/trump-dismiss-10-billion-dollar-irs-lawsuit\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">Both arose<\/a> out of a $10bn lawsuit Trump, his sons, and business filed against the government for damages over the unauthorized release of his tax returns. The justice department did not even attempt to defend the government in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">A federal judge later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/13\/trump-irs-ruling-judge-kathleen-williams\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">said it was a \u201cbad-faith\u201d<\/a> suit designed to engineer a beneficial result for Trump. The New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/19\/us\/politics\/trump-settlement-irs.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">reported<\/a> in May that the tax immunity could potentially free Trump of a $100m penalty related to past audits of his tax returns.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cCan you believe the guy, or did he and Trump announce the $1.9bn Trump justice fund in a month, and now we\u2019re back where we started?\u201d asked Democratic senator Sheldon Whitehouse, another judiciary committee member.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cOr did they open the drive-up window at the Department of Justice for free Federal Tort Claims Act giveaways to any Maga person who asks?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Referring to Cornyn and Tillis, Whitehouse said: \u201cIt doesn\u2019t look to me like they\u2019ve actually pinned down the result they claim to have achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The fund would have been run by five commissioners, four of whom would have been appointed by the attorney general (the fifth would have been named in consultation with congressional leadership). The fund was not required to disclose how much money it paid and to whom and aside from Trump and his sons, there were no restrictions on who could apply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The agreement Blanche announced is \u201ccompletely hollow\u201d, said Virginia Canter, chief counsel and director of ethics and anti-corruption at Democracy Defenders Action. \u201cNothing changes the terms of the actual settlement agreement, which cannot be modified without all parties\u2019 consent. As a result, Blanche could reverse course tomorrow if he wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Lawyers for the watchdog group Democracy Forward, which sued over the fund and secured a court order stopping it, <a href=\"https:\/\/democracyforward.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/2026.08.03-DOJ-Letter-re-Blanche-Aug-2-Orders-Floyd-2.pdf\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">sent a letter<\/a> to the justice department on Monday noting Blanche had still declined to say under oath that the fund was not moving forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The organization also asked the justice department whether it would seek to amend the underlying settlement agreement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThe DoJ and Acting Attorney General Blanche appear to want to have their cake and eat it too,\u201d Skye Perryman, the group\u2019s president, said in a statement. \u201cThey ask members of the United States Senate to believe the anti-weaponization fund is dead while they seek to preserve favor with the president through refusing to make real commitments backed up in court regarding the operation and future of the fund.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Even some Trump allies appeared unpersuaded that Blanche\u2019s announcement amounted to the death of the fund.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Mike Howell, an ally of Trump and director of the Oversight Project, a conservative watchdog group, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MHowellTweets\/status\/2084121546394607798?s=20\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">posted <\/a>a picture of Blanche\u2019s documents on X and said they \u201ccan be undone after Tuesday. The weaponization fund is great.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Asked about the possibility of Blanche going back on his promises to the Republican senators after being confirmed, Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said: \u201cKnowing how Trump works \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t be surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US news<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=%E2%80%98Completely%20hollow%E2%80%99:%20critics%20denounce%20Blanche%20deal%20to%20halt%20Trump%20slush%20fund&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/03\/todd-blanche-donald-trump-deal?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Faug%2F03%2Ftodd-blanche-donald-trump-deal&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/aug\/03\/todd-blanche-donald-trump-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Todd Blanche at a cabinet meeting at Camp David last week. Photograph: Daniel Heuer\/Reuters View image in fullscreen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6061,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6062,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6059\/revisions\/6062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}