On Sunday night, August 2, 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a formal order terminating the Justice Department’s ‘anti-weaponization fund,’ an $1.8 billion pool of money the Trump administration had established to compensate political allies who claimed they were unfairly prosecuted. The fund would have made eligible a broad range of claimants, including January 6, 2021 defendants convicted of assaulting Capitol Police officers and other law enforcement personnel who responded to the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Blanche signed the termination order the night before his scheduled confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate panel responsible for confirming attorneys general and federal judges, which is set for Tuesday, August 5, 2026. Two Republican senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, had blocked his confirmation for months, refusing to vote until they had formal written assurance the fund was finished.
Who Todd Blanche Is
Todd Blanche spent much of 2023, 2024, and 2025 as Donald Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney, representing him in the federal documents case involving classified materials found at Mar-a-Lago, the federal January 6 conspiracy case, and Trump’s New York criminal case related to hush money payments. After Trump’s second inauguration in January 2025, Pam Bondi was confirmed as Attorney General and served in the role until April 2026, when Trump removed her. Reports at the time indicated Trump was dissatisfied with Bondi’s handling of what he described as political enemy prosecutions, specifically that she was not moving aggressively enough against Trump’s political opponents. After Bondi’s departure, Blanche was elevated to acting Attorney General, meaning he fills the role on a temporary basis without Senate confirmation, and Trump subsequently nominated him for the permanent position. Blanche has served as acting Attorney General since April 2026.
What the Anti-Weaponization Fund Was
The ‘anti-weaponization fund’ was described by its proponents as a compensation mechanism for Americans who believed the government had targeted them for their political beliefs or associations with Trump. Under the fund’s terms, individuals could submit claims alleging they had been unfairly investigated, charged, or prosecuted because of their connection to Trump or conservative political causes. Approved claims would be paid from the $1.8 billion pool. The fund was structured broadly enough to include thousands of individuals charged or convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol, a group that includes people convicted of seditious conspiracy, people convicted of assaulting police officers with flagpoles and other weapons, and people convicted of obstructing an official proceeding of Congress. Critics noted the fund would have used federal taxpayer money to compensate people who were convicted by juries in open court. The Trump administration argued those convictions were themselves examples of the political weaponization of the legal system.
How the Fund Was Created: The IRS Lawsuit
The anti-weaponization fund was not created by Congress. It did not originate from an appropriation or a statute passed by the legislative branch. Instead, it was created as one of two key provisions in the settlement of a personal lawsuit that Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the federal agency responsible for tax collection and enforcement. The lawsuit alleged that the IRS had improperly subjected Trump to mandatory presidential audit procedures during his first term, which Trump claimed were politically motivated. The lawsuit settled during Trump’s second term. Under the settlement, the federal government agreed to two concessions to Trump personally: first, personal tax audit immunity, shielding his individual tax returns from future IRS scrutiny; second, the creation of the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. A federal judge reviewing the settlement took the unusual step of publicly calling it ‘an improper exercise in self-dealing.’ The judge’s concern was that the sitting president had used the power and resources of the executive branch to settle a personal financial lawsuit in his own favor, using government money and government commitments. The judge also referred one of Trump’s personal attorneys involved in the negotiations for potential professional disciplinary action with the relevant state bar, and specifically criticized Blanche’s own role in the settlement process. Trump’s legal team is appealing the judge’s ruling.
The Republican Holdouts
The senators who blocked Blanche’s confirmation were both in political positions that reduced the usual consequences for breaking with the administration. John Cornyn of Texas had been a reliable Republican vote for years and lost his Republican primary race this cycle; he is now finishing the final months of his Senate term. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced earlier in the cycle that he would not seek another Senate term and is also finishing out his tenure. Both senators said the anti-weaponization fund was something they could not support and demanded formal written assurance from Blanche that the fund would not proceed before they would allow his confirmation to move forward. For months, Blanche and the Justice Department declined to provide that assurance. Significantly, the DOJ specifically refused to file a declaration under penalty of perjury stating that the fund would not proceed, a refusal Cornyn and Tillis publicly flagged as meaningful. Throughout the standoff, Trump continued to publicly express support for the fund even as his acting Attorney General was negotiating to kill it.
What Blanche’s Order Does
Blanche’s formal order on Sunday night does two things. First, it formally and permanently terminates the anti-weaponization fund. No claims will be processed or paid. Any applications that had been submitted or were pending are voided. Second, it limits the scope of the tax audit immunity provision that was part of the original IRS settlement. Under the original settlement terms, the audit immunity would have applied to Trump’s future tax filings as well as past ones, meaning it would have shielded his personal taxes from IRS audit scrutiny indefinitely going forward. Blanche’s order restricts the immunity to retroactive claims only: it applies to the tax years and filings already at issue in the original lawsuit, but does not extend to future returns. Whether even this narrowed version of the immunity survives legal scrutiny is unresolved. Trump’s attorneys are appealing the federal judge’s ruling that called the underlying IRS settlement an improper exercise in self-dealing, and the outcome of that appeal could affect what immunity remains in place.
Where Things Stand
Blanche’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, August 5, 2026. Senators Cornyn and Tillis said Sunday they are satisfied by the formal termination order and will allow the process to proceed. If confirmed, Blanche would become the permanent Attorney General of the United States. The underlying legal challenge to the IRS settlement, including the judge’s self-dealing determination and the referral of Trump’s attorney for potential professional discipline, continues in the courts. Trump had not issued a public statement about Blanche’s termination order as of Sunday night, and had not withdrawn his prior public expressions of support for the fund.