Blanche deal leaves loopholes on 'anti-weaponization' fund, Trump immunity
The Hill · C · trust 59/100
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Republican Sens. John Cornyn (Texas) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) announced the terms of a deal they portrayed as formally killing the anti-weaponization fund, clearing the path for Blanche’s nomination to advance to the Senate floor.
“It’s done. It’s been rescinded, and I am satisfied,” Tillis said Tuesday as the Senate Judiciary Committee approved Blanche’s nomination in a party-line vote.
But the language in two memos released by Blanche Sunday night leaves avenues for Trump to seek to resurrect the fund in court, a detail Cornyn initially expressed concerns about as he pressed the acting attorney general to put in writing an agreement to end it.
And Trump — along with his adult children and their businesses — still retains the benefits of a May 19 memo granting him immunity from any government investigation into past conduct, including from audits related to past tax returns that could yield a bill as high as $100 million.
A meeting to review Blanche’s nomination stretched beyond two hours as Democrats on the Judiciary Committee dissected the flaws of the deal.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) called the two documents “decorative” and said neither “has any legal effect whatsoever.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called it a “sham,” arguing that describing it as a “loophole” was too generous.
“This is all hat and no cattle,” Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said before continuing the rancher metaphor. “It’s hard for me to say this as a plant-based guy, but where’s the beef? Where’s the beef? This is ridiculous. We got nothing — no guarantees whatsoever that this slush fund still can’t go forward. We got nothing that the president of the United States can’t cheat on his taxes and have no accountability.”
The issue is one initially identified by Cornyn: Trump was a party to the lawsuit, and he has kept active the underlying case, meaning he could return to court to press the matter.
Trump has made clear his disappointment to see the fund lapse, and he appealed a ruling that found his $10 billion suit against the IRS amounted to collusion. A judge found Trump and the government were not truly averse, a requirement for bringing a lawsuit.
“To state the obvious, Mr. Blanche’s statement on the slush fund and the IRS immunity agreement are not signed by the parties to the settlement agreement and are therefore unenforceable. The parties could still sue to enforce the agreement, and the cop beaters fund can easily be revived with a new order from the Department of Justice 15 minutes after Mr. Blanche is confirmed as attorney general. Indeed, the president himself has loudly telegraphed that’s his plan,” Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said.
“This is the exact issue that the two senators identified as the basis for their objection to his nomination,” Durbin added, referring to Cornyn and Tillis.
Groups that have sued over the anti-weaponization fund also noted that the administration has resisted calls to affirm in court that the fund is defunct.
“The Trump-Vance administration cannot ask the public or our clients to accept a late-night social media post in place of legally binding action,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, one such litigant, said in a statement.
“The Anti-Weaponization fund is not operating now because our clients secured a court order blocking it. The political gymnastics need to stop. If the Justice Department truly intended to end the Anti-Weaponization fund on its own, it would submit the sworn declaration that the court in our matter requested, amend the agreement that created the fund, and make clear that it cannot be revived,” Perryman continued.
After the vote, Cornyn defended the agreement but also acknowledged there were certain limitations.
“Well, there’s nothing we could do to rein in the president when he said he likes the fund and he wishes it still exists, but the fact of the matter is it’s dead, and that’s all we can do,” he told reporters outside the hearing room.
Beyond the fund, Trump and his family retain the other key provision bestowing them with immense immunity for their past conduct.
That memo dictated that any government agency, such as the Department of Justice (DOJ), is “forever barred and precluded” from investigating or prosecuting the Trump family and their business entities for any action taken before the May 19 document was signed.
In the update posted Sunday, Blanche stressed that the deal applied “only retroactively” — a detail apparent from its inception.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has called that memo “the mother of all sweetheart deals.”
“Blanche’s memo also does nothing to undo the Super Pardon to the Trump family. In fact, it confirms that his May 19, 2026, order continues to protect Trump, his family, and all their business from ‘any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any relief’ for any violation of federal law that ‘could be pending’ before DOJ, IRS, or any ‘other agencies or department’ as long as the conduct occurred before May 19, 2026,” Raskin, who sponsored a bill to kill both the fund and the immunity deal, said in a statement Monday.
A 2024 New York Times investigation found that an ongoing audit of Trump’s tax filings could lead to an assessment of $100 million, but a review of the immunity deal by Forbes found that deals made during Trump’s time in office could inflate the figure higher to as much as $600 million.
In theory, the May memo could cover any criminal matter for the parties listed, not just tax matters.
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