One of the most contentious elements of Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation fight was the since-withdrawn $1.776 billion compensation fund he helped to create. To hear the Republican lawyer tell it, the fund, widely panned by both parties as a “slush fund,” need not be a point of concern: It’s dead, Blanche assured senators, and it’s not coming back.
That was good enough for nearly every GOP senator, but there were a couple of exceptions. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, for example, explained when announcing her opposition to Blanche’s nomination, “I am … keenly aware that the Department’s nearly $2-billion dollar slush fund — which likely would have rewarded January 6 protesters — is only off the table because this nomination is pending and the Senate has leverage. Once we vote, that will end, and there is no telling what the future holds.”
So what to make of Donald Trump’s answer when he was asked again earlier this week about the so-called anti-weaponization fund, which the president continued to champion during Blanche’s confirmation fight?
“Well, that’ll be up to Todd Blanche,” he said on Monday.
Asked Wednesday for clarification during a Justice Department press conference, the newly confirmed attorney general added some fresh thoughts on the subject.
“The president feels very strongly, as do I, that there were people who were victims of a Department of Justice that was absolutely weaponized,” Blanche said, “and he feels very strongly that he would want to — to make them whole, as do I, but it will not be through the anti-weaponization fund.”
This one is worth unpacking.
Right off the bat, note that Blanche spoke entirely about the importance of Trump’s “feelings,” as if the president and not the attorney general were solely responsible for setting the Justice Department’s direction — because he is.
Also, the idea that the Biden-era Justice Department “was absolutely weaponized” is certainly popular in Republican circles, but to date, neither Blanche nor any of his allies has ever presented any credible evidence to substantiate those conspiratorial claims.
On a related note, that Blanche of all people wants to talk about the weaponization of federal law enforcement, after he’s gone to almost cartoonish lengths to weaponize federal law enforcement, is rich.
But even if we put all of these relevant details aside, at the heart of the comments was a peek into the future. Blanche and the president who tells Blanche what to say, do and think see a group of “victims” of the Biden-era DOJ whom the attorney general wants to make “whole” through some kind of unspecified reward.
And that’s precisely why Blanche’s comment about the demise of the slush fund tells only part of a larger story. The Republican administration still has other financial spigots, and by all appearances, it still wants to use them.
Indeed, the White House has already arranged for generous payouts, financed entirely by American taxpayers, to the president’s political allies through dubious settlement agreements — to the tune of several million taxpayer dollars — and if the attorney general’s latest comments are any indication, we can expect to see even more payouts.
“Once we vote,” Murkowski wrote, “there is no telling what the future holds.” A week later, however, the future hasn’t wasted any time coming into sharper focus.
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