Compromise Deal on Weaponization Fund Raises Concerns Among Critics

Compromised Agreement Clears Path for Blanche’s Confirmation

Todd Blanche, currently serving as acting Attorney General, announced on Sunday evening that he was withdrawing an earlier order allowing the creation of a $1.8 billion weaponization fund and clarifying the scope of tax immunity granted to former President Donald Trump. This move stems from a deal worked out with Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, who had previously threatened to block Blanche's nomination. These senators are now expected to support his confirmation during an upcoming Senate judiciary committee vote on Tuesday.

The documents Blanche released only say the prior justice department order creating the weaponization fund is rescinded. It does not modify the original settlement agreement creating the fund, reached as a result of a Trump lawsuit seeking billions in damages for the unauthorized release of his tax returns. This agreement has been criticized by legal experts and Democrats who argue that what Blanche announced on Sunday was far from ironclad.

“These assurances are not worth the paper they’re written on,”

said Brandon DeBot, policy director at the Tax Law Center at NYU. “They don’t pull back on the ongoing attempts to give the president, his family, and his affiliates unauthorized immunity from tax audits. They don’t do anything new to stop the president from trying to bring back the fund, as he threatened to this weekend.”

Democratic senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the judiciary committee, echoed these sentiments: “Cornyn and Tillis seem to have gotten nothing. The tax immunity deal is still unlimited in terms of tax control liability, and the slush fund, or the thug fund, as I call it, is still alive and well so far as Donald Trump is concerned.”

John Cornyn and Thom Tillis defended their agreement, stating that the weaponization fund is “rescinded to death” and that the Texas senator had assured them “it would be very difficult for anybody to construe it as some sort of get out of audit free for any kind of future matter.”

“That’s enough for me,”

said Tillis. However, critics like Jamie Raskin, the ranking Democrat on the House judiciary committee, argue that even if the department does not move ahead with the fund, there is another path for January 6 defendants to receive a payout from the federal government.

A once-obscure process under the Federal Tort Claims Act allows anyone to seek damages from the federal government. The justice department has wide discretion over whether to settle these lawsuits, and some January 6 defendants are already moving through this process with claims for millions of dollars. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and member of the senate judiciary committee, criticized the agreement: “This supposed ‘deal’ doesn’t prevent payouts to violent insurrectionists in the future. It doesn’t prevent the admin from bringing the slush fund back from the dead next week or using DOJ’s Judgment Fund for the same illicit purpose.”

Future Concerns Loom Despite Current Resolutions

The compromise fails to address ongoing issues such as the potential creation of a fund under a different name or through alternative legal processes. Additionally, there are concerns that Blanche could reverse course after his confirmation. Virginia Canter, chief counsel and director of ethics and anti-corruption at Democracy Defenders Action, stated: “Nothing changes the terms of the actual settlement agreement, which cannot be modified without all parties’ consent.”

“As a result, Blanche could reverse course tomorrow if he wanted,”

said Canter. Lawyers for the watchdog group Democracy Forward sent a letter to the justice department on Monday noting that Blanche had still declined to say under oath that the fund was not moving forward.

“The DoJ and Acting Attorney General Blanche appear to want to have their cake and eat it too,”

said Skye Perryman, the group’s president. “They ask members of the United States Senate to believe the anti-weaponization fund is dead while they seek to preserve favor with the president through refusing to make real commitments backed up in court regarding the operation and future of the fund.”

Even some Trump allies appeared unpersuaded that Blanche’s announcement amounted to the death of the fund. Mike Howell, an ally of Trump and director of the Oversight Project, a conservative watchdog group, posted a picture of Blanche's documents on X and said they “can be undone after Tuesday. The weaponization fund is great.”

Asked about the possibility of Blanche going back on his promises to the Republican senators after being confirmed, Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, stated: “Knowing how Trump works … I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Source: The Guardian