Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche rescinded an order creating a federal \"Anti-Weaponization Fund\" on Sunday night following negotiations with Republican senators. Despite the dissolution of the fund, a separate component of a May settlement remains in place, barring the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from continuing certain tax enforcement actions against President Donald Trump and his business entities.
The move followed opposition from Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who indicated he would block Blanche’s permanent confirmation as Attorney General unless the settlement terms were modified in writing. Trump originally sued the IRS in January for $10 billion, alleging a leak of his tax information during his first term; that lawsuit resulted in the May settlement before a judge could rule on the case.
Blanche stated on social media that he issued the new order after weeks of discussions with Senate Judiciary Committee members to address outstanding concerns. While the \"Anti-Weaponization Fund\" is now void, a clarified order confirms that the government is permanently barred from pursuing ongoing tax enforcement against the named parties in the original lawsuit, which include the president, his sons, and the Trump Organization.
On a broader scale, the deal clears a procedural path for the leadership of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The compromise ensures that federal law enforcement and tax agencies are restricted from specific adversarial actions against the sitting president's private interests as defined in the settlement. This sets a precedent for how litigation between a president and the executive branch they lead may be resolved through internal department orders rather than through a final court judgment, as the presiding judge previously noted the case appeared to be an attempt to use the court to provide legitimacy to an immunity agreement.
What happens next: The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a vote on Tuesday to consider the confirmation of Todd Blanche as the permanent Attorney General. While the new order protects the president from audits of past tax returns, the Department of Justice clarified that the immunity does not extend to future tax filings. A spokesperson for Sen. Cornyn confirmed that the written agreement now bindingly limits the scope of the settlement to only the specific plaintiffs named in the lawsuit.