Todd Blanche has spent the better part of his confirmation process insisting that the $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund — otherwise known as the Trump slush fun — is dead. He said so under sworn testimony. He privately told Senators Durbin and Blumenthal it was “a mistake” …and then called them liars in his written responses when they said so publicly. He told Judge Brinkema’s court it wasn’t going forward, but refused to put that in writing when she asked him to, prompting a federal judge to open an inquiry into whether DOJ had committed fraud on the court.
Now two Republican senators on the Judiciary Committee are asking Blanche to do the one thing he has consistently refused to do: put it in writing.
You’ll recall Blanche personally created the Anti-Weaponization Fund earlier this year, drawing $1.8 billion from the Treasury’s Judgment Fund to compensate people claiming they were wronged by the government, including January 6 rioters. The fund drew immediate bipartisan condemnation, not least because of its eligibility criteria.
Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, both outgoing, both on the Judiciary Committee, both identified early as potential trouble votes, said Monday they are not ready to advance Blanche’s nomination unless he commits in writing that the slush fund is truly dead, and that the audit immunity provisions of the settlement don’t extend beyond the original lawsuit or to future federal agency actions beyond the IRS.
“That’s what we’re trying to get them to agree to, which is again what his sworn testimony was,” Cornyn told reporters. “So I don’t know why they’re so reluctant to do that when he’s already sworn to it.”
It’s a fair question! If Blanche testified under oath that the fund is dead, writing it down shouldn’t be a problem. Unless, of course, there’s a reason he doesn’t want it in writing… which is precisely what Judge Brinkema concluded when the DOJ refused to file a declaration under penalty of perjury confirming the fund wouldn’t proceed. At the time, Blanche’s response to being asked to put it in writing was: “I’m not committing to putting anything in writing. What would the purpose be?”
The purpose, as Cornyn is now explaining, is that words said in a confirmation hearing evaporate. Words in a signed document do not.
Cornyn, who lost his primary to Trump-backed Ken Paxton earlier this year, made his position unambiguous: asked directly whether Blanche should count not on his vote Thursday without written commitments, he said “That is correct.” Tillis echoed the same position, saying he too is waiting on written changes to the IRS settlement before committing his vote.
This is, to be clear, a self-inflicted wound, and the wound keeps bleeding because Blanche won’t close it. He could have put the fund’s death in writing for Judge Brinkema. He could have put it in writing for Durbin and Blumenthal. He can put it in writing for Cornyn and Tillis right now. He won’t or at least, he hasn’t so far. At some point the question stops being about the slush fund and starts being about something more fundamental: if Todd Blanche won’t commit to his own sworn testimony in writing, what exactly is his word worth?
Earlier: Todd Blanche’s Confirmation Strategy: Call Two Senate Judiciary Committee Members Liars
A Former DOJ Lawyer Testified Against Todd Blanche. Then The Death Threats Started.
Paging Dr. Freud: Todd Blanche Calls Himself Trump’s Lawyer At His Attorney General Confirmation Hearing
DOJ Tries To End Slush Fund Suit By Telling Judge Brinkema To Get Bent. Fails.
Todd Blanche Got The Attorney General Nomination. Getting Confirmed Is Another Matter.
Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1
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