Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) pressed Acting United States Attorney General Todd Blanche on his role in the potential $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund settlement by President Donald Trump during a confirmation hearing this week.
Blanche, who served as Trump’s personal attorney for three years, helped negotiate the settlement deal for Trump after he moved to sue the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for $10 billion over the leaking of his tax returns in 2020. The fund was meant to compensate those who felt they’d been unfairly targeted by President Joe Biden’s administration.
Without Sen. Cornyn's vote, Blanche may not have enough support to secure his confirmation.
During the hearing, Sen. Cornyn raised several concerns about the language and legality of the agreement, one being that it argued the lawsuit could proceed despite the expiration of the two-year statute of limitations.
“I know that was the subject of pleading in the complaint in an attempt to avoid the two-year statute of limitations,” Sen. Cornyn said. “But that struck me as unusual.”
Earlier this week, a U.S. District Judge ruled that the original suit was filed for an improper purpose and referred a Trump lawyer to be reviewed by the Florida Bar to determine whether ethics rules were violated and if disciplinary action is needed.
But Blanche told lawmakers the proposed settlement was no longer under consideration.
“It is a moot issue, meaning there is no weaponization fund,” Blanche said. “The weaponization fund is dead. It's not moving forward.”
Sen. Cornyn pointed to a line in the settlement agreement that said the deal could be modified by either party in a written agreement, raising concerns that the president could use this to keep the fund alive.
“There's no guarantee that he or one of the other plaintiffs might raise that issue by way of a lawsuit, [or] a breach of contract lawsuit in the future,” Sen. Cornyn said.
Blanche shot this possibility down.
“There's no modification. It's just, it never started,” Blanche said. “No money went from the treasury to any other account. There's no commissioners. It's not moving forward.”
However, Blanche did mention one potential loophole in the settlement agreement.
“They [Trump and other plaintiffs] could potentially say that, I suppose, that we breached [the contract] by not moving forward,” he said. “They haven't done that, and I'm not aware that they're planning on doing that.”
Despite Blanche's repeated insistence that the fund was effectively dead, Sen. Cornyn acknowledged the difficult position Blanche may be in as Trump's former attorney. He stressed that, if confirmed, Blanche would need to balance his loyalty to the president with his duty to the nation.
“Whatever the president wants for any reason or no reason at all,” Sen. Cornyn said. “But then you also have a duty as the chief law enforcement officer of the United States, and I think it's a very, very difficult balance.”
