Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche has issued a formal order terminating US President Donald Trump’s US$1.8 billion “anti-weaponisation fund” to compensate his political allies, a move that follows weeks of negotiations with two Republican senators who were blocking his nomination for the top job in the Department of Justice.

A spokeswoman for John Cornyn, one of the senators holding up the nomination, confirmed Sunday's deal, which comes ahead of a Tuesday confirmation vote for Blanche’s nomination in the senate judiciary committee.

The other senator, Thom Tillis, did not have immediate comment.

Blanche said at a June hearing that the department would not move forward with the fund to compensate those who believe they were unfairly prosecuted, as he faced bipartisan outrage over the possibility that violent rioters who attacked police at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, could be considered for payments.

But Cornyn and Tillis, both members of the judiciary panel, have said they wanted to see the promise in writing before they endorsed Blanche's nomination – especially as Trump continued to express support for the idea.

In a statement accompanying the order, the department said that “although the acting attorney general has repeatedly advised Congress through testimony, including under oath, as well as in written responses, that the fund is not moving forward, and the department has repeatedly represented to district courts that the fund is not moving forward, today’s order officially rescinds the May 18, 2026 order.”

Since the settlement of the president's lawsuit against the IRS was announced, “No members were appointed; no funds were transferred; no process for receiving claims was established; no claims were paid,” the order says.

“This order establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no fund.”

The document released by Blanche on Sunday night also limits the scope of another provision of the settlement that provided broad immunity for Trump and members of his family from tax audits.

The deal clarifies that the tax audit immunity agreement “applies by its terms only retroactively” to claims open at the time of the settlement and does not protect the president from examination of future tax filings.

Blanche, who served as Trump’s defence lawyer in his criminal cases, entered the department last year as deputy attorney general.

He was elevated to the top post after Pam Bondi was fired in April by Trump, who was frustrated by her failure to successfully prosecute his political enemies.

Though Blanche insisted he wasn’t auditioning for the permanent job, he has moved aggressively to pursue the Trump administration’s agenda and accelerate investigations into the president’s perceived foes. (AP)



Edited by Tony Sabine