Todd Blanche, the man who prosecuted seashell photos on behalf of Donald Trump and called it justice, is now watching his own confirmation collapse because the Justice Department won't put in writing that it'll kill a $1.8 billion fund designed to protect Trump from IRS audits. The Senate Judiciary Committee was supposed to vote Thursday on advancing his nomination. That's looking shaky. And the people blowing up the timeline are Republicans.
What the Hell Is the Anti-Weaponization Fund?
Let's back up. As NBC News reports, the so-called "Anti-Weaponization Fund" was created through a settlement between Trump and the executive branch he personally controls, over a lawsuit Trump filed about the disclosure of his tax records. Read that sentence again. Trump sued the government he runs, settled with himself, and created a fund with the proceeds.
A federal judge in Virginia has indefinitely blocked the fund after a former January 6 prosecutor took it to court. A separate federal judge in Florida found that Trump's original IRS lawsuit was brought in "bad faith" for an "improper purpose" and ordered sanctions against several people involved, including, yes, Todd Blanche himself.
The settlement also contained provisions shielding Trump, his family members, and his companies from IRS audits. So to recap: Trump's Justice Department created a $1.8 billion fund, partially funded through a self-directed lawsuit, that hands money to Trump allies and protects the president from tax scrutiny. And the man nominated to run that Justice Department was sanctioned in connection with the whole scheme.
Cornyn and Tillis Are Asking for One Simple Thing
Two Republican senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, want the DOJ to commit in writing that the Anti-Weaponization Fund is dead and that the IRS audit immunity for Trump and his family will be curtailed. That's it. Put it in writing. Easy, right?
According to NBC News, Cornyn told reporters Wednesday that Blanche's team had not delivered. "I haven't seen a single piece of writing that is responsive to what I've requested," Cornyn said. The Guardian reports that without those written assurances, Cornyn will not back the nomination. No paperwork, no vote.
Tillis was slightly more optimistic. "They're working on a draft right now," he told reporters Wednesday afternoon, adding that DOJ had been in "constant daily contact" with his office. Which is nice, but "working on a draft" is not the same as a signed commitment, and the committee vote is Thursday morning.
It is worth pointing out what NBC News notes about both senators: neither Cornyn nor Tillis is facing re-election in November. That is the only reason they can afford to say no to anything Trump-adjacent right now. Political courage, 2026 edition.
Blanche's Resume, Such As It Is
For anyone just tuning in, Todd Blanche is Trump's former personal defense attorney. After Trump fired Pam Bondi as attorney general in April, reportedly due to frustrations with her leadership, Blanche stepped up as acting AG. He told NBC News in April that Americans should be "happy" that Trump was so involved in Justice Department matters. That's a quote. That is a real thing a man said about the president directing the nation's top law enforcement agency.
Within two weeks of that statement, the Trump administration charged former FBI Director James Comey over an Instagram photo of seashells arranged in the shape of the number 86, which Comey had posted. Comey's legal team argued in a court filing this week that the seashells prosecution existed because Blanche was trying to "please President Trump" during his "audition" for the permanent AG job. Trump, NBC News reports, was said to be happy with Blanche's performance after the Comey indictment and nominated him permanently.
During his confirmation hearing, Blanche stated flatly that he is not a "yes man" for Trump. His own audition story suggests the opposite.
What Happens Next
The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to advance Blanche's nomination to the full Senate. As of Wednesday afternoon, the written commitments Cornyn demanded had not materialized, and Tillis indicated negotiations were still live.
If the committee advances the nomination, it heads to the full Senate, where Republicans hold a majority but cannot afford many defections. Cornyn and Tillis together represent exactly the kind of margin problem that could sink this. The question is whether DOJ will blink and produce the paperwork, or whether they're betting that the senators will fold under pressure from the White House.
Given that this is the same Justice Department that created a $1.8 billion fund by having the president sue himself, do not assume anyone involved is operating on normal political logic.
The Dingo Take
You are supposed to believe that Todd Blanche is an independent actor who will run the Justice Department without fear or favor. This is the same man who was sanctioned by a federal judge for his role in a scheme to protect the president's tax records, who then became acting attorney general, who then charged a former FBI director over a beach photo, and who now cannot be confirmed because the department he is trying to lead won't promise in writing to stop shielding that same president from IRS audits. At every single step of this story, the institution bends toward Trump's personal legal and financial interests. Blanche isn't a yes man in the sense that he'd say yes to anything. He's more specific than that. He says yes to Trump.
Cornyn and Tillis deserve exactly zero applause for this. They're not protecting democratic norms. They have specific, narrow objections to a fund that a federal court already blocked and a scheme a federal judge already called bad faith. They're asking for paperwork. That's the bar. And even that, as of Wednesday, the DOJ couldn't clear.
The Anti-Weaponization Fund is, in a just world, the kind of thing that ends careers and triggers congressional investigations. The president of the United States settled a lawsuit with the government he runs, created a slush fund from the proceeds, used it to shield his family from tax audits, and the man who helped make it happen is now a Senate confirmation hearing away from running the whole Justice Department. The fund is blocked. The sanctions are real. The seashells are a matter of federal record. None of it seems to matter to anyone with the power to actually stop it, except two senators who happen to not be running for anything.
Comments