Two GOP senators demand guarantee to kill anti-weaponization fund before backing Blanche for attorney general

Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general faces a potential roadblock from within his own party. Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina are demanding written guarantees from the Trump administration that it will dissolve an $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund before they will vote to advance Blanche through the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Blanche's confirmation path is narrow: even a single Republican defection could doom his nomination in a 51-49 Republican Senate, according to NBC News. The committee was set to hold a vote Thursday morning, per NBC.

Cornyn and Tillis have histories of clashing with Trump and neither faces re-election in November, giving them relative political insulation. Cornyn lost his primary race to Trump-endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to NBC News.

On Wednesday, Cornyn told reporters that Blanche's team had failed to provide written proposals to modify the settlement agreement. "I haven't seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I've requested," Cornyn said, per NBC News. Tillis, by contrast, said the process was actively moving forward. "They're working on a draft right now. We've been in constant daily contact with DOJ, and to their credit, they're engaging," Tillis told NBC News.

The anti-weaponization fund was established under a settlement agreement between Trump and the executive branch over a lawsuit Trump filed concerning disclosure of his tax records. The settlement also granted Trump, his family members, and his companies protections from IRS audits, according to NBC News. Trump's tax records case led to a five-year prison sentence for a former IRS contractor.

A federal judge in Virginia indefinitely blocked the fund after a former Jan. 6 prosecutor sued, per NBC News. Separately, a federal judge in Florida found Trump's IRS lawsuit was brought in "bad faith" for an "improper purpose" and ordered sanctions against several people involved, including Blanche, according to NBC News.

Blanche, 50, previously served as Trump's personal defense attorney and held the key No. 2 position at the Justice Department until Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi in April. After assuming the role of acting attorney general in April, Blanche told NBC News that Americans should be "happy" that Trump was so involved in Justice Department matters. Less than two weeks later, the Trump administration brought a case against former FBI Director James Comey over an Instagram photo of seashells. Comey's legal team argued in a court filing this week that Blanche was seeking to "please President Trump" during his "audition" for the attorney general role, per NBC News. Trump was said to be happy with Blanche's job performance and ultimately nominated him permanently.

During his confirmation hearing this month, Blanche said he was not a "yes man" for Trump, asserting his independence from presidential pressure. But his record as acting attorney general, according to NBC News, has raised questions about whether institutional guardrails will constrain his leadership of the department.