Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche has permanently withdrawn plans for a contentious $1.8 billion compensation fund for alleged victims of politically motivated prosecutions, removing a key obstacle to his confirmation as President Donald Trump's attorney general.
In a post on the social media platform X, Blanche wrote that the fund had been rescinded and « therefore has no legal force or effect ». The announcement draws a definitive line under a proposal that had become one of the most heavily criticised initiatives of the new administration and had caused unease even among Republicans.
The fund was designed by the Justice Department to compensate people who argued that they had been targeted by politically or ideologically motivated actions of the state. Around $1.8 billion, roughly €1.5 billion, was to be set aside for this purpose under the original plans.
Critics feared it would be used to reward supporters of Trump who took part in the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and were prosecuted while Joe Biden was president. Trump pardoned many of those defendants after returning to office in 2025. In the view of its opponents, the fund would have allowed taxpayer money to reach people who had faced charges related to the Capitol riot, and it created the impression that loyalty to the president could bring financial benefits.
The Trump administration had already said in early June that it was prepared to abandon the project, as criticism grew louder both in the Democratic camp and within the president's own party. Two Republican senators, however, wanted more than a verbal promise. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, demanded written assurance that the plan was dead.
The committee is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on whether to recommend Blanche, Trump's preferred candidate, to the full Senate. The two senators had made clear that they would withhold their support for Blanche until the administration formally withdrew the fund plans. With the announcement on X, that condition appears to have been satisfied, and the path toward a committee recommendation is now open.
Blanche, who is currently heading the Justice Department in an acting capacity, could become the country's top law enforcement officer if the Senate confirms him. The episode shows how a controversial project can complicate a high-level appointment, and how senators can use the confirmation process to force an administration to put concessions in writing.
With the fund formally off the table, the main point of contention between Blanche and the two Republican senators has disappeared. Whether Cornyn and Tillis will now back his nomination remains to be seen, but the condition they had set has been met.