Dick Durbin said Todd Blanche privately told him the Trump DOJ’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund was a mistake, then urged him to put that admission in writing. Durbin made the account public on Tuesday, one day before Blanche was set to answer senators before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Durbin said Blanche told him: “What more can I do? What more can I say? I made a mistake. I don't want to see the weaponization fund go forward,” and said he replied that a written statement would be more credible. He also said Blanche told him he would work with Congress to codify that the fund is gone and will not be used again.
Senate Judiciary Committee hearing
The fund had been announced by the Department of Justice as a $1.8 billion slush fund to compensate Trump allies who claimed they were wrongfully persecuted by the Biden and Obama administrations. The scheme was announced in exchange for Trump dropping a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Justice later said last month it would no longer move forward with the fund.
Durbin said on X that Blanche was “at the helm of a weaponized Justice Department,” and added that he pushed him on “the botched release of the Epstein Files, the MAGA slush fund for cop beaters, the Trump-IRS sweetheart deal, and his crypto corruption.” The same post put the dispute in the open hours before Blanche faced public questioning.
—in public—before the Senate Judiciary Committee.”
That leaves the hearing as the first public test of whether Blanche repeats the private admission Durbin attributed to him, or disputes it before senators. Blanche has yet to confirm in writing that the scheme has been canceled, so Wednesday’s appearance is the point where the record can be made on the record rather than in a private meeting.
