Acting Attorney General Ends ‘Instrumentalization’ Fund After Republican Criticism

US President Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Todd Blanche, has announced that he is formally revoking the $1.7 trillion (€1.4 trillion) fund to compensate alleged victims of “instrumentalization” of Justice in previous administrations after Republicans in the Senate threatened to block his appointment.

“The Department of Justice has announced that the acting attorney general has revoked the order of May 18, 2026,” said Blanche, currently acting US attorney, in a statement published on social media in which she also attached the formal order rescinding the fund.

Blanche’s announcement comes two days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to vote on her nomination for permanent attorney general and after Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina conditioned their vote on rescinding the plan.

The two Republicans had also been against Blanche’s nomination for her management of files related to the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, especially following the leak of victims’ personal data.

The fund was part of the dismissal agreement between the tenant of the White House and the United States treasury for the leak of his tax return to the media by a former contractor of the entity currently imprisoned.

The agreement also included a prohibition on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from reviewing the past tax returns of Trump, his family and his companies, a measure that the magnate’s critics saw as an attempt to shield himself financially.

Both Cornyn and Tillis have expressed in a joint statement that they welcome this step after raising concerns about the agreement. “We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche and his team for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” they said.