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Monday, August 3, 2026

Todd Blanche clinches his confirmation

After weeks of back and forth, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche seemed to give Republican holdouts what they wanted late Sunday evening.

Right before midnight, Blanche dropped a memo putting in writing that President Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund”, to compensate his political allies and Jan 6 rioters, is officially dead.

Blanche posted on X a signed order, dated August 2, that read: “The Attorney General’s May 18, 2026 Order establishing the Anti-Weaponization Fund (‘Fund’) is rescinded and shall have nor force or effect.”

That proved to be enough for Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, to give a green light to Blanche's confirmation.

“We are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund,” they said in a joint statement. “Additionally, the Department has acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share.”

The Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Blanche's confirmation on Tuesday and, barring any snags, he will likely glidel through with unanimous Republican support.

But, as my colleague Alex Woodward has flagged, another question still lingers: will a settlement with the IRS "forever" bar the government from any “examinations or similar or related reviews” into the taxes of Trump, his family or his companies?

Read more here.

By Eric Garcia

Reading list

Sean O'Grady: I worry that Trump’s Gaza plan is just a beachfront property deal
John Bowden: Trump’s whiny Truth Social tirade against Iran reads like a bitter breakup text

Daily briefing

President Donald Trump in the Oval Office

Trump lashes into Jeanine Pirro saying she ‘choked’ on reflecting pool ‘vandalism’ and ‘folded like an umbrella’

The president is reportedly considering firing DC’s top prosecutor after court filings blamed his administration for damage to the Reflecting Pool's new coating, Alex Woodward writes.

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Any country with windmills is a loser.

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