Blanche formally rescinds Trump’s $1.8bn ‘anti-weaponization fund’ ahead of nomination hearing
Todd Blanche issues formal order terminating measure widely derided as a ‘slush fund’, in move that could clear path for his nomination as attorney general
Acting US attorney general Todd Blanche issued a formal order late on Sunday terminating Donald Trump’s $1.8bn “anti-weaponization fund” to compensate his political allies, a move that follows weeks of negotiations with two Republican senators who were blocking his nomination to become attorney general.
While Blanche has repeatedly said publicly that the fund was dead, the justice department had resisted formally confirming that in writing. That had drawn concern from lawmakers that it could be revived in some form, especially after Trump expressed continued support for the idea.
A spokesperson for Texas Senator John Cornyn, one of the senators holding up Blanche’s nomination, confirmed the agreement. The other GOP senator, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, did not have immediate comment.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/03/blanche-formally-rescinds-trumps-18bn-anti-weaponization-fund-ahead-of-nomination-hearingOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
32 replies
I predict that they’re still going to try to move forward with this shitty slush fund anyway in some form, and then we’re gonna have to try to drag it through the courts to stop it.
This official document will make it easier to stop, but they’re gonna do whatever they can to move forward with it in some form nonetheless.
These people are lying scumbags, and this mood is yet another lie.
And if he's confirmed, he'll order it again.
Idk, he would have formally write a check to President lover, that he would have to cash in an account he has not been disclosed, probably in Qatar. Memo would state "for last night" and would never be referenced again as the doj would 100% destroy any evidence of it. But he will make it out to 2.5 billion because of the interest. Btw it's Biden fault.
No he didn't. If you read the fine print, all parties must be signatories to all changes to the settlement meaning if Trump and his kids decide to force the settlement it can go forward. He's lying as well. Read this document Blanch signed. He didn't close the door on the fund.
Trump's not giving up on this. This is the money that he intends to pay his violent Insurrectionists to fight for him when we try to make him leave in 2029. He can't pay them out of his own money because "MY money, are you fucking kidding me?" plus hiring a private army to launch a coup is pretty much a guarantee of getting executed when it fails,.which it will, because MAGA is virtuosically incompetent, and failure is guaranteed.
I hope he does it. It will give us the final excuse to deal with him decisively and when those Insurrectionists get froggy again, they'll be met with a wall of automatic gunfire, like they should have the first time. They won't get a second chance. We can wipe out the worst MAGAs in America in a few minutes, then execute their God.
Please forgive me for not trusting your obvious BS line
Did Trump approve that? Because yesterday he was swearing up and down he was going to open it back up if Blanche wasn't confirmed.
Between (1) that and (2) the alcoholic prosecutor's surrender to the Olympic athlete, (3) the brain worm's retreat to recommending measles vaccinations, and (4) how the war Beelzebibi tricked him into is shaping out, I imagine President Pedophile is experiencing much consternation.
The bar already is too low for this to mean anything. A judge has blocked the proposed settlement already, so it's insanely suspicious that Trump was willing to withdraw Blanche if necessary to not give up the settlement in writing.
Two huge problems that probably make this worthless despite that it almost certainly will satisfy the GOP holdouts:
Now they have produced an "order," but it's not even clear what legal effect it has or why it can't be replaced with a new "order" reinstating it. The DOJ can't issue a court order and it's redundant to the court order. So it must be an internal order and if the DOJ has the power to issue it, it has the power to revoke it.
There is still a retroactive immunity! How this is never in the headlines, is just a reflection of how they've successfully poisoned the conversation. Here's the article:
I doubt "claims open at the time of the settlement" is genuinely limiting. So the president and his entire family gratuitously get exactly what they wanted, a free criminal immunity for their fraudulent tax returns. The prospective immunity was never going to be held up in court anyway.
Blanche is Trump's personal attorney. Not was, is. Just like Bondi. Cornyn and Tillis did this so they can lie to themselves that they had a backbone, that's all.
After what Trump did to Cornyn and Tillis, I don't understand why they'd vote for ANYTHING he wants. And given that his attempted manipulation might result in both seats flipping, I didn't know why any MAGA would support him either.
If either of those seats flip, it will be as a direct result of Trump's interference, and if I was a Senate MAGA, I'd stop supporting Trump entirely.
That would make sense, but it's just as likely they are thinking about life after the Senate.
If their only marketable associations are via the GOP, if the GOP has become MAGA, and if they are exiled from MAGA-ified GOP, then they may still be trying to look like they weren't really opposed to Trump because it'll help them nab that Fox News correspondent spot, that speaking engagement, that cushy lobbying firm role.
I get that, but there's also a lot of money to be made as a MAGA critic from the right. Chris Christie is doing pretty good with that, so are others. It's the new trend, and they should jump on it. It might literally save them someday.
The atomic-scale upside to this, is that immunity is just as worthless as this is, once trump is out of office.
Republican nominees lie to the Senate to get approved.
There's a new Guardian article now that addresses the sham of the confirmation agreement:
‘Completely hollow’: critics denounce Blanche deal to halt Trump slush fund
There's more if you're interested, but no one thinks for two seconds that this is legitimate, or more importantly, that it's actually going away. It's not going anywhere, because Blanche is going out of his way to ensure that it can be resurrected with any legal challenge by the orange chancre or his spawn.
No he didn't, he lied. They always lie. They're liars.
So when he said it was moot before, was he lying?
Well at least that's something positive to come out of this. Though I feel that if Cornyn didn't get fucked over in the primary by Trump he wouldn't have really put up such an opposition to this.
Stop it. Why would you believe ANYTHING they say? Haven't you figured out that they're lying about EVERYTHING? Even if they put it writing, they'll do it anyway. Money to pay his Insurrectionists for his violent 2029 Coup? Tax immunity for life? He can't let that go, and he won't. Sworn testimony, promises, documents, signatures, none of it matters, he won't honor any of it.
They've already confiscated over $13 billion in Venezuelan oil profits, and NOBODY knows where it is, and NOBODY is asking about it. They'll do the same thing here, wait for it to settle down, and then just do it quietly when nobody is watching.
They are going to do this, no matter what they promise.
Its like democrats have no concept of tasksies-backsies. Idiots.
This has nothing to do with the Democrats.
What in the hell is the matter with you?
Exactly. Also, an example needs to be set, which is why the current regime and it's sponsors are trying to ram through as much as they can as fast as they can.
They know what they've done, and they know that if they lose power now they're done. Life imprisonment if they're lucky
Consequences. At long last, someone needs to experience consequences for their shitty shitty actions.
You think Uday and Susay deserve to survive this? It's not like he cares about them.
Everyone in this thread is suddenly really comfortable with hurting innocent people/animals as long as they get to see the ones they hate suffer. Where have I seen that before...?
No member of the MAGA High Command is "innocent." The Trump children have been complicit in his corruption and crime, and they all deserve severe punishment.
And they are not being punished because they are hated, they are being punished because they are an organized criminal enterprise who has taken over our government and is actively looting it. We will punish their CRIMES, not their politics.
They aren't hated for their politics, they are hated for their corruption, treason, and pedophilia. Why do think people who have killed thousands, and stolen billions, and raped children, should get away with it just because they are MAGAs? Should they also get away with it if they were Democrats? How about independents?
How about NOBODY gets away with treason, corruption, and pedophilia, no matter what party they're from?
I don't disagree; the full-grown adults who are complicit in the bullshit we've been subjected to absolutely deserve to be punished. But the comment I originally replied to demanded the death of "kids and pets" as well, which is plainly unhinged.
I say still dont approve him. Hes slimy enough to find another way to get thw slush fund through
Get wrecked, Todd.
Did the other party to the IRS lawsuit’s settlement also agree to terminate that contract? Wait a minute…