Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is facing a shaky path to confirmation, with Senator John Fetterman saying President Trump has little leverage over the Republican senators standing in his way. As reported by The Hill, three outgoing Republican senators, Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, and John Cornyn, have expressed skepticism about the nomination.
Blanche needs to clear the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he can afford to lose only one Republican vote. Fetterman, speaking to Kasie Hunt on Friday, said, “Trump has zero leverage,” referring to the departing senators.
The standoff centers on a nearly $2 billion fund often called an anti-weaponization fund, created under Blanche’s watch as acting attorney general. During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Blanche told the committee, “There is no weaponization fund,” adding that the fund is dead.
Senators remain unconvinced the fund is fully resolved
Senator John Cornyn has said he is not entirely convinced the issue is resolved, noting that the settlement agreement establishing the fund requires written consent from all parties to be modified. During a July 15 exchange, Cornyn said Blanche’s testimony did not lead him to conclude the fund was permanently gone, adding that it “could be revived at a future date.”
If the nomination reaches the Senate floor, Blanche will need support from nearly every Republican senator, since Democrats are expected to oppose him unanimously. The situation is complicated further by the continued absence of Senator Mitch McConnell, who is recovering from a fall last month.
Workplace and consumer disputes have also drawn attention online recently, amid unrelated stories such as one involving a Chipotle manager giving bare minimum portions that also circulated widely. Trump has reportedly suggested he could temporarily rescind the nomination until Tillis and Cornyn leave office in January, but Cornyn pushed back on that idea Thursday, noting there is no guarantee their eventual replacements would be more supportive.
Cornyn told reporters on Capitol Hill that a Democrat could potentially fill his seat in November, which he said could leave the administration with a weaker hand next year. He added that he and his colleagues had tried not to escalate the fight further.
Public disputes over money and fairness have circulated in other unrelated contexts too, including one where commenters call out the price of an influencer’s $63 Costco seafood boil that went viral. Blanche has acknowledged that the settlement tied to the anti-weaponization fund remains an enforceable document, saying that if the president’s counsel sought to enforce it, they could attempt to do so.
Blanche maintains that no money has moved and that the Justice Department is not proceeding with the fund, though the absence of a formal amendment to the settlement continues to factor into the confirmation debate.
Published: Jul 31, 2026 08:45 pm