Trump ties Blanche vote to revival of $1.8 billion payout fund
What's next: The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote Tuesday as two GOP senators demand written proof the fund is dead.
President Donald Trump threatened to revive a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund if two Republican senators continue blocking Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general. Trump wrote Saturday that if Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina do not back Blanche, he will keep him as acting attorney general and push to restore the fund through Congress. The standoff has delayed a Senate Judiciary Committee vote, now scheduled for Tuesday. Cornyn and Tillis want the Justice Department to put in writing that the fund will not return, after Blanche testified that it was finished. Trump had said Friday at Camp David that the fund was “dead,” but added that he still wanted people he believes were mistreated by the justice system to be compensated.