President Trump's Justice Department is under fire, with two Republican senators digging in against attorney general Todd Blanche, who is also Trump's former personal lawyer, according to a report by ABC News. The standoff centers on a disputed compensation fund.
The senators, John Cornyn of Texas and Tom Tillis of North Carolina, are demanding that Blanche provide written proof that a $1.8 billion fund is officially dead, according to the report. The fund would have paid taxpayer money to Trump's political allies, including January 6th rioters.
Both Blanche and Trump have claimed there is no weaponization fund, that it is dead and that it is not moving forward, according to ABC News. That assurance is at the heart of what the senators say they want confirmed in writing.
Trump, however, said he wished it were not dead. He said he thought people were horribly treated and horribly abused, that this had nothing to do with Blanche and was his own doing, and that he would like to see them compensated, according to the report.
In a post on Saturday, Trump said that if Cornyn and Tillis keep standing in his way, he would keep Blanche on as acting attorney general and push Republicans in Congress to put his controversial fund immediately up, saying he would get it done, according to ABC News.
Tillis hit back, writing that the president clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot and that it is unfortunate Todd Blanche will not be confirmed because of the reversal, according to the report. Cornyn, meanwhile, is also insisting that the Justice Department rein in an IRS immunity deal that could significantly benefit the president and his family.
Both senators are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and are not returning to Congress next year, according to ABC News. Tillis is retiring after repeated splits with Trump.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has rescheduled Blanche's confirmation vote for Tuesday after it was abruptly postponed the week before, according to ABC News, but the report said Cornyn and Tillis were not budging and there were no signs of a deal. ABC News said it had invited Blanche to appear but that he declined.