Two Republican rebels face a backlash after caving in to Donald Trump over a slush fund settlement that continues to give the president extraordinary immunity from tax-related audits.
After days of digging in, Senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn announced that they would back Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general after extracting what they billed as a significant concession from the administration: the formal cancellation of a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund and written assurances narrowing tax audit protection included in Trump’s settlement with the IRS.
“We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” they wrote in a joint statement on Monday morning.
But the victory lap was immediately overshadowed by criticism that the pair had secured far less than suggested.
While Blanche eliminated, in writing, the explosive compensation fund, the underlying settlement benefiting Trump remains. That agreement shields Trump, his family and his businesses from IRS scrutiny over the tax return leak at the center of the lawsuit that gave rise to the slush fund.
The only change is that the Justice Department now says the protection applies retroactively, rather than serving as a blanket safeguard against all future audits.
What’s more, all parties, including Trump, are also required to sign the latest agreement in order for it to be fully rescinded. That has not yet happened.
This has fueled accusations that Cornyn and Tillis effectively caved, allowing Trump to move forward with Blanche’s nomination while leaving the president with one of the settlement’s most controversial benefits.
“Tillis & Cornyn might as well have just voted to confirm Blanche originally to spare us this kabuki theater,” said former Republican turned anti-Trumper Ron Filipkowski, in a sentiment many others shared.
“They are confirming the man who crafted the settlement & slush fund (and) who is the same man who can easily rescind it once he’s confirmed. And Trump keeps IRS immunity. Frauds.”
The now scrapped “anti-weaponization” fund was announced by Blanche earlier this year while he was auditioning for his job to take over the Justice Department after former Attorney General Pam Bondi was fired in April.
The fund was designed to compensate people who claimed they were unfairly targeted by the federal government, including potentially some January 6 rioters.
But even with the fund effectively dead, January 6 defendants can still seek compensation under federal torts law—and many of them have already signed up to do so.
“This supposed ‘deal’ doesn’t prevent payouts to violent insurrectionists in the future,” said Democrat Senator Adam Schiff.
“It doesn’t prevent the admin from bringing the slush fund back from the dead next week or using DOJ’s Judgment Fund for the same illicit purpose. It leaves in place a tax-immunity deal that could help Trump skip taxes on the $2.3 billion he made last year, and still leaves it vague who and what is covered.”
Tillis is not re-contesting his North Carolina Senate seat at the midterms, while Cornyn was pushed out of his Texas seat after Trump backed the challenger in his GOP primary race, Ken Paxton.
But while both have now agreed to back Blanche, it is still not clear whether he will get enough support to secure the top job when his nomination is voted on this week.
All eyes are on GOP senators Bill Cassidy and Susan Collins, who don’t always follow Trump’s demands, while Mitch McConnell remains missing in action.
Blanche used to be Trump’s personal attorney and represented him in the so-called “hush money” trial that led to the president being criminally convicted of falsifying business documents to cover up a sex scandal with porn star Stormy Daniels.
But his close relationship with Trump has sparked questions about his ability to lead the department independently, particularly after he admitted during his confirmation hearings that the White House was essentially running things.
He has also faced mounting controversy over his stewardship of the department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, including the sweetheart deal that resulted in Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell being transferred to a cushy prison camp in Texas.
“I don’t understand really why anyone would take Todd Blanche’s word on any of this,” said former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori.
“He testified under oath to the Judiciary Committee that he feels constitutionally obligated to do what the president tells him to do. That could include reversing himself in precisely this situation.”
