Sen. Thom Tillis took Trump to task for trying to get his slush fund codified into law just a day after he declared it “dead.”
As MS Now’s Jacob Soboroff explained in the clip above:
SOBOROFF: So just a few hours ago, President Trump took to Truth Social to proclaim that his controversial so-called anti-weaponization fund is back on the table. This is what he wrote in part:
If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t endorse them, they lost and quit respectively, aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, then I will keep Todd as acting AG and push hard to get the anti-weaponization bill PASSED! Todd Blanche was a voice of reason. It will immediately be back on the table and I will get it done.
OK, let’s back up a little bit. This anti-weaponization fund essentially amounts to a slush fund that would funnel money to Trump allies who say they have been wronged by the Justice Department. And that could include January 6th rioters.
Trump’s fixation on this slush fund, which a judge has already ruled void, by the way, is standing in the way of Todd Blanche becoming the next attorney general, becoming confirmed.
Two key Republican senators, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, are withholding support for Todd Blanch over concerns about this exact thing, the anti-weaponization fund, among other issues.
And Todd Blanche has verbally said the fund is dead. But Cornyn and Tillis want it in writing. And it seems for good reason, because Donald Trump is once again contradicting Todd Blanche’s statement and his own past statements about the fund.
Sen. Tillis quickly took to X to respond to Trump:
Despite comments as late as yesterday that the fund is dead, President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would… https://t.co/OSoFTAKUkE
— Senator Thom Tillis (@SenThomTillis) August 1, 2026
The Senate Judiciary is scheduled to vote on Blanche on Tuesday, but there’s still no deal:
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley rescheduled a planned vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general late Friday in a preemptive move as negotiations between the Trump administration and GOP holdouts continue.
The vote, now set for Tuesday after a scheduled Thursday vote was postponed, isn’t an indication that a deal allowing for Blanche’s confirmation is near, so much as it is a nod to Judiciary Committee rules that require three days of notice for a panel meeting.
There is no sign that President Donald Trump is about to acquiesce to the unflinching demands of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who wants a controversial settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS substantially pared back.
