Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund has become a roadblock for his attorney general nominee

President Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization’ fund has become the chief stumbling block to Todd Blanche getting confirmed as the next attorney general, with key Republicans saying they can’t let him be approved until the $1.776 billion idea is fully snuffed out.

Mr. Blanche has told lawmakers the fund is moribund and he won’t release any of the money.

But senators said the language of the deal — which Mr. Blanche signed off on as acting attorney general — could leave wiggle room for Mr. Trump to ask a court to enforce it.

One of those Republicans, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said he’ll hold up any action until either Mr. Blanche renegotiates the settlement to make clear the fund is expunged or Congress passes legislation firmly nullifying the fund.

“We need to have a fork stuck in the 1776 fund,” Mr. Tillis told reporters. “I want a renegotiated agreement that ends this forever. That is final.”

The senator said the Justice Department is negotiating on the matter.

He also said he’d like to see Mr. Blanche retreat on another part of the deal granting Mr. Trump and his family immunity from prosecution for past tax offenses.

Mr. Tillis is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and without Mr. Tillis or Sen. John Cornyn — another Republican who has signaled he’s not yet sold on the nomination — Mr. Blanche could languish.

Asked whether Mr. Blanche would cooperate, Mr. Cornyn told reporters: “Does he want to get confirmed or not?”

The Senate Judiciary Committee is slated to vote this Thursday, just ahead of the Senate’s summer break. If the committee doesn’t act now, Mr. Blanche’s nomination could be pushed off until the fall.

Mr. Blanche has been running the Justice Department since the ouster of Pam Bondi.

The Justice Department acknowledged the negotiations in a statement and reiterated Mr. Blanche’s position that the fund has been offed.

“As Acting AG Todd Blanche said at the hearing, the fund is dead. This has been relayed before the House and Senate under oath and in multiple court filings,” the department said. “The department has been actively engaged with Senators on language that will address their concerns about the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which does not exist and will not exist.”

Mr. Trump’s legal team secured the weaponization fund in exchange for dropping a lawsuit against the IRS over a contractor’s leak of the president’s secret tax information during his first term in the White House.

As envisioned, the fund would pay out to people who were targeted by the Justice Department during the Biden administration.

The overwhelming belief was that much of the money would go to people prosecuted for the mob intrusion on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, though Mr. Blanche insisted the recipients could be anyone with a plausible case.

Amid massive bipartisan outcry, Mr. Blanche told Congress in June he had squelched the fund.

Senators from both sides, though, feared that unless the fund is eradicated either by court or by law, Mr. Trump will seek ways to revive it. They want to see “tangible” action from Mr. Blanche to prevent that.

Democrats said the fund was part of a long line of decisions where Mr. Blanche took questionable action to assist the president’s political goals.

“If confirmed as attorney general, Blanche will continue to serve the interests of Donald Trump, not the American people,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

But Chairman Charles E. Grassley said ditching Mr. Blanche, who’s been running the department for months as acting attorney general, would derail the country’s progress on lowering crime rates.

“The Justice Department has thrived under his leadership,” the Iowa Republican said. He also said Mr. Blanche has “demonstrated his ongoing commitment to transparency and rule of law.”

Democrats have poured blame on Mr. Blanche for the department’s handling of releasing the Epstein files, saying it missed legal deadlines and ended up releasing identifying information about deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s victims.

Mr. Blanche said the department did the best it could, making mistakes in 1% of victim redactions as it sorted through tricky cases where victims were also perpetrators sometimes.

Among Republicans, meanwhile, even those who appeared to be strong Blanche supporters peppered him with questions about the Justice Department’s strategy on a lawsuit challenging the Biden administration’s decision to approve the abortion pill for prescription without needing an in-person doctor’s visit.

The Trump administration has said the 2023 regulation issued by the Food and Drug Administration was ill-considered.

But Mr. Blanche’s team has declined to side with Louisiana, which is leading a lawsuit challenging the Biden regulation as an assault on the state’s own abortion access law.

“How do you think we can get to some solution here?” said Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican.

Mr. Blanche said he wouldn’t comment on “litigation strategy” but said they “are not defending what Biden did, and will not.”

He said Mr. Trump has been the most pro-life president in history and said the FDA should be allowed to finish its new review.

“We want to get to a good result, consistent with President Trump’s directives and priorities,” Mr. Blanche said.