Todd Blanche has (at least partially) yielded to the demands of two dissident Republican senators and will be confirmed as the new United States Attorney General, that is, as the Defense Minister of the Republican administration. And this despite Donald Trump himself, last weekend, continuing to fuel the clash (one of the most serious of this term) by openly challenging his parliamentarians.
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The concessions, put in writing with an executive order issued by Blanche (and therefore authorized by the White House), concern the cancellation of the $1.8 billion Fund, which amid much controversy was supposed to compensate Trump supporters, who were “instrumentally” – according to the tycoon himself – targeted by the Department of Justice during the Obama and Biden administrations. Among these alleged victims to be reimbursed for the political attacks of the Democratic administrations were also supposed to be the extremist right-wing supporters who stormed the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021, contesting Biden’s victory and demanding the subversion of the elections to send Trump back to the White House. In the clashes of that day, very sad for American democracy, a police officer and four protesters died, while dozens of police officers were injured. “This order establishes, beyond any doubt, that the Fund does not exist,” Blanche wrote.
A second request accepted by Blanche to obtain approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee concerns the reduction of the scope of the total immunity that Trump had granted – to himself, his family, and his companies – to protect his business from any past and future legal actions regarding taxes and income tax returns filed. In this case, Blanche stated that the tax shield will protect the president, two of his children, and the Trump Organization, but not other family members and collaborators. And that it will cover the declarations already submitted to the tax authorities “but not future ones,” “only” from actions “by the IRS and the Treasury Department.” “The tax provision,” Blanche explained, “applies, by its very nature, exclusively retroactively.”
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Challenging and blocking Blanche’s appointment – already Trump’s personal lawyer and the president’s enforcer in attacking current political opponents with targeted investigations – were two Republican senators, John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, usually well aligned with the majority supporting Trump but now at odds with the party for not being nominated ahead of the Midterm elections.
Cornyn, from Texas, and Tillis, from North Carolina, had contested the creation of the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund and the immunity granted by Trump to himself: two measures arising from an agreement to close the $10 billion lawsuit initiated by the president himself against the IRS, the Internal Revenue Service, thus against the tax agency of his own administration. After Blanche’s executive order, the two announced their vote in favor of Blanche: “We want to express our gratitude to Todd Blanche and his staff for working with us, and we look forward to voting soon to advance his nomination to the Senate Judiciary Committee,” they said in a joint statement.
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