Senate Judiciary Committee Advances Todd Blanche After He Rescinds 'Anti-Weaponization Fund'

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines Tuesday to advance Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s nomination to be U.S. attorney general, moving President Donald Trump’s former personal criminal defense lawyer a step closer to confirmation.

The vote sends Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate for consideration. It does not confirm him. Blanche has been serving as acting attorney general since early April 2026, after Pam Bondi was fired.

The committee action came after Blanche rescinded a controversial Justice Department order that had become a sticking point for key Republican senators. In the days before the vote, Blanche withdrew a May 18 order creating the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” a roughly $1.776 billion fund that had drawn objections from Sen. John Cornyn of Texas and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, according to Axios.

Cornyn and Tillis said they would support advancing Blanche after negotiating what they described as enforceable language ending the fund and narrowing some protections tied to the underlying settlement. “We look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” the senators said, according to Axios.

In the rescission order, Blanche wrote: “The Attorney General’s May 18, 2026 Order establishing the Anti-Weaponization Fund (‘Fund’) is rescinded and shall have no force or effect.”

The fund grew out of a May 2026 settlement tied to Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over disclosure of his tax records. Reporting described it as intended to hear claims from people alleging harm from government “weaponization” or “lawfare.” Scrapping it reduced the immediate political obstacle to Blanche’s nomination, though Axios reported that it may not resolve all legal questions surrounding the underlying settlement.

Blanche’s dual role as acting attorney general and a former Trump personal lawyer has made his nomination unusually closely watched. The White House formally sent his nomination to the Senate on June 8. He had already been confirmed once by the Senate, as deputy attorney general, in March 2025, before taking over on an acting basis this spring.