Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche used to be one of the very few figures in the Trump administration who could walk a line between serving President Donald Trump's desires and checking his ugliest instincts — but faced with the prospect of overseeing Trump's new $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," there's no sign of any checks, The New York Times reported on Thursday.
"Allies of Mr. Blanche thought he could achieve two seemingly irreconcilable goals when he was elevated to temporarily replace Pam Bondi after her ouster in April: restoring stability and competence to the department and taking a handful of actions that were sufficiently drastic to convince the boss he was tough enough to make his title permanent," said the report. "So far, however, Mr. Blanche has exhibited few of the modest moderating tendencies he exhibited during more than a year as Ms. Bondi’s top deputy."
For example, Blanche oversaw the re-indictment of former FBI Director James Comey over a social media tweet. And even more notably, "In announcing on Monday a $1.8 billion fund that would benefit those who claim they were targeted by the federal government, he effectively forged a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to Trump allies, among them supporters who ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021."
Blanche has now been put in the awkward position of trying to clarify how this program, already decried by Democrats as a "slush fund" for Trump's allies, will work, and how it will be legal.
"While Mr. Blanche’s name is on the documents, and he has defended the actions as lawful and necessary, his precise role in formulating these policies remains unclear," said the report. "During an interview with CNN on Wednesday, he suggested that Mr. Trump’s 'outside counsel' and department lawyers, but 'not me,' had been involved in drafting the settlement, including the provision shielding the president from I.R.S. scrutiny."
Meanwhile, he has also declined to say Jan. 6 rioters, even those convicted of new crimes since Trump's pardons, would not be eligible to apply for the fund — and "said he would appoint five commissioners who would make all the major decisions, that Mr. Trump would have authority to fire them, vowed to appoint one member after consulting Congress — but refused to commit to including even a single Democrat."
All of this comes as even Senate Republicans start considering a legislative crackdown on the fund, including limitations on who is eligible, in their immigration enforcement reconciliation package.