{"id":399,"date":"2026-05-29T13:09:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:09:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=399"},"modified":"2026-05-29T13:09:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T13:09:52","slug":"backlash-over-fund-tests-blanches-bid-for-us-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=399","title":{"rendered":"Backlash over fund tests Blanche&#8217;s bid for US attorney general"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Summary<\/li>\n<li>Companies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>WASHINGTON, May 29 (Reuters) &#8211; Todd Blanche has moved quickly as acting U.S. attorney general to please the man whose face now adorns the exterior of the Justice Department\u2019s Washington headquarters: President Donald Trump.<\/div>\n<div>The Department of Justice under Blanche, who took over in early April \u200bafter Trump fired his predecessor, Pam Bondi, secured criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, ramped up its investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan and removed press releases \u200cabout prosecutions of rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.<\/div>\n<div>But his audition for the permanent job as the nation\u2019s top law enforcement official faces its biggest hurdle next week when Congress returns: the $1.776 billion fund for victims of what Trump has called government \u201cweaponization,\u201d including possibly the January 6 rioters.<\/div>\n<div>The \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund,\u201d set up under a settlement of Trump&#8217;s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax records, was widely derided by critics as \u200ba \u201cslush fund\u201d for Trump\u2019s political allies.<\/div>\n<div>Senators recoiled from the fund when it was rolled out last week and canceled a planned vote on funding immigration enforcement in protest. Some Republican lawmakers have discussed \u200bplacing guardrails on the fund or eliminating it entirely.<\/div>\n<h2>&#8216;SCREAMING AT THE ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL&#8217;<\/h2>\n<div>Blanche was summoned to a tense meeting with Senate Republicans, many of \u2060whom expressed fury about the political optics of the fund and the prospect that people convicted of violent crimes could receive taxpayer-funded payouts.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cThe Republican senators were pissed,\u201d Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, \u200bsaid on his podcast. \u201cThe entire meeting, they were screaming at the acting attorney general.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>Trump has backed the plan, writing in a social media post that he is helping those \u201cabused\u201d by Democratic President Joe Biden\u2019s \u200badministration.<\/div>\n<div>Blanche has defended the fund, saying there are no partisan requirements to file a claim. A five-person commission, four of whom Blanche will appoint directly, would oversee compensation for those claiming to be victims of \u201clawfare\u201d or \u201cweaponization,\u201d terms Trump and his allies have long used to condemn cases against them.<\/div>\n<div>The pushback from Senate Republicans, whose support he would need for confirmation, shows the risks of Blanche&#8217;s Trump-centered approach. Courts have also voiced distrust of the DOJ in several cases.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cThere&#8217;s just a \u200bfundamental incompatibility between his (Trump\u2019s) demand that the Justice Department carry out loyally all of his retributive goals, and his desire to see those things succeed in courts and before grand juries,\u201d said Peter Keisler, \u200ba former DOJ official who served as acting attorney general under Republican President George W. Bush.<\/div>\n<div>A department spokesperson said Blanche has \u201cstrong, productive relationships with both Congress and the courts as the laws of our nation are enforced.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>\u201cAny \u200cnotion that Acting \u2060AG Blanche lacks support from these institutions is simply false,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/div>\n<h2>DEFENDING TRUMP<\/h2>\n<div>A day after the confrontation with Republican lawmakers, Blanche was rebuked by a federal judge.<\/div>\n<div>Tennessee-based U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed a human smuggling case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, finding the prosecution was improperly brought in retaliation for his legal challenge to his wrongful deportation to El Salvador last year.<\/div>\n<div>In his ruling, the judge cited Blanche\u2019s remarks in a June 2025 Fox News interview when Blanche, then the deputy attorney general, said the government began investigating Abrego after another federal judge questioned his deportation.<\/div>\n<div>Crenshaw, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, \u200bsaid Blanche\u2019s statements tied DOJ leadership \u201cto the tainted investigation \u200band confirm what motivated it.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>The Justice Department \u2060has vowed to appeal the ruling, calling it \u201cwrong and dangerous.\u201d In court filings, prosecutors have denied any political motivation.<\/div>\n<div>Blanche worked his way from a paralegal to a supervisor in the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office in Manhattan, a magnet for top-flight federal prosecutors. He left his position at a prominent New York law firm \u200bin 2023 to represent Trump, who at the time struggled to find lawyers to defend him against a crush of state and federal investigations.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cHe\u2019s \u200blived this lawfare for years. \u2060He understands the viciousness of it. He understands the dangers of it,\u201d said Mike Davis, a Trump ally and the head of the Article III Project, a conservative legal advocacy group, who called Blanche the &#8220;man for the moment.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>Blanche built a rapport with Trump, adopting his pugilistic style in defending against three of the four criminal cases Trump faced in his years out of office. He was installed as second-in-command at the Justice Department \u2060after Trump won \u200bthe 2024 election.<\/div>\n<div>Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School and a legal ethics expert, said Blanche\u2019s past role \u200bas Trump\u2019s lawyer may put him \u201cin a different mindset\u201d than others who have run the DOJ.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cYou have really one person that you\u2019re looking out for and you grow to think of them and their goals as the be all and end all \u200bof your professional life,\u201d Roiphe said. \u201cThen when you assume a position where you\u2019re supposed to be representing the public, you might have an altered view.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=397\">In California redistricting, pro-MAGA town likely to get a gay, liberal congressman<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=394\">Eleven children killed, injured every 24 hours in Lebanon, UN says<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=392\">FAA orders SpaceX to investigate Starship booster mishap<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Todd Blanche has drawn Republican ire over the planned fund for &#8216;weaponization&#8217; victims.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[14,80,17,91],"class_list":["post-399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-government","tag-judiciary","tag-public-policy","tag-white-collar-crime"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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