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President Donald Trump blasted Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Saturday for opposing his nomination of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the permanent position, suggesting he could keep Blanche in the temporary Justice Department leadership role and ensure the Anti-Weaponization Bill is passed.
While blasting the rogue GOP senators, Trump tied the Blanche nomination fight to the Anti-Weaponization Bill, proposed legislation that would establish a congressionally authorized compensation program for alleged victims of political “weaponization,” replacing the controversial DOJ-created Anti-Weaponization Fund.
The fund was formed through a settlement Blanche reached with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Treasury Department to create a $1.8 billion fund to compensate alleged victims of political persecution. Amid criticism that the executive branch lacked authority to create such a program without congressional approval, the Justice Department later said it would not move forward with the fund, effectively shelving it.
“If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill, which takes care of those who have been so badly treated by the Crooked Joe Biden (and Obuma!) Administration (I get nothing, although I was treated horribly!), PASSED. Todd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done,” Trump wrote in a Saturday morning post on Truth Social.
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Cornyn and Tillis, both of whom faced electoral opposition from Trump in some form, each indicated that they would not vote to advance Blanche’s nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, talks with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., during a Senate Finance Committee hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 30, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“I think I am prepared to vote no, but I do think I owe it to my constituents and to Mr. Blanche to try to negotiate in good faith,” Cornyn told Capitol Hill reporters on Wednesday. “And that’s what we’ve been doing. And so we’ll see where things are this morning and see where we go from here,” he added.
Though both Blanche and Trump have previously said the Anti-Weaponization Fund is “dead,” Cornyn and Tillis both indicated that they want the fund’s demise to be formalized in writing before supporting Blanche’s confirmation.
Cornyn questioned Blanche about the fund during his mid-July confirmation hearing.
“Has there been a written agreement of the parties to modify the settlement fund?” Cornyn asked Blanche.
“No, the settlement fund is just not moving forward,” Blanche replied.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche gets sworn in at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Tillis, who announced in 2025 that he would not be seeking re-election just one day after Trump threatened to back a primary challenger, also criticized the Anti-Weaponization Fund, calling it a “payout pot for punks” in a Saturday morning response to Trump on X.
“Despite comments as late as yesterday that the fund is dead, President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against. It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday,” Tillis wrote
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., makes his way to a vote in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)
Cornyn, who has been a senator since 2002, lost his GOP primary to Trump-backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton during the state’s May 26 contest, losing by nearly 400,000 votes, according to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.
Trump, during his Friday Cabinet meeting at Camp David, theorized that his backing of Paxton was Cornyn’s motivation for opposing Blanche.
“This is being done by a senator. And I don’t really blame him, to be honest with you. I endorsed his opponent. And as soon as I endorsed his opponent, his opponent went through the roof and he won the primary election in Texas,” Trump said.
“And the man that lost, the man that I didn’t endorse has become very angry. And that’s okay. I understand that. I probably would do the same thing,” the president added.
President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth participate in a cabinet meeting at Camp David in Thurmont, Maryland, July 31, 2026. (Daniel Heuer/Reuters)
Cornyn, for his part, downplayed that possibility.
“That’s a convenient excuse, and it happens to be untrue,” Cornyn told reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday, according to CBS News.
Trump also told reporters during the Cabinet meeting that though he considers the anti-weaponization fund “dead,” he wishes it wasn’t.
“Well, it is dead. But you know, I wish it weren’t to be honest with you, I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused. This has nothing to do with this was me, horribly abused. And I’d like to see them compensated for the the pain,” Trump said.
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Blanche is scheduled to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for a vote on whether to advance his nomination out of the committee and to the full Senate for confirmation.
Fox News Digital contacted the White House, the Justice Department, Cornyn and Tillis for further comment.
Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.