White House staff helped secure deal to rescind $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
White House chief of staff and legislative affairs director worked closely with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and two Senate Republicans to reverse a $1.8 billion fund, a process overseen by President Donald Trump.
The White House played an active role in the reversal of a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, according to multiple officials familiar with the negotiations. Chief of staff Susie Wiles and director of legislative affairs James Braid were described as "deeply involved" in the process, while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche kept senior White House staff briefed on key issues.
Senate Republicans John Cornyn and Thom Tillis reached an agreement with Blanche to rescind the fund and modify a prior IRS arrangement concerning tax investigations of the president and his family. The deal was announced on X with a signed memo stating the fund "shall have no force or effect" and an accompanying statement outlining the IRS terms.
President Donald Trump acknowledged the agreement but said he had not personally reviewed the details, stating, "I didn’t look at it" and noting he viewed the fund as a positive but saw no alternative means to revive it.
According to a senior administration official, it is customary for the White House to monitor nomination processes, though the negotiations were primarily between Blanche and the senators. Blanche, a former personal lawyer to Trump, sought Senate confirmation despite being able to serve in an acting capacity, and the White House supported his confirmation.
Legal analysts within the Justice Department have raised questions about the binding nature of the rescission memo, which bears Blanche’s signature but lacks signatures from the president’s personal lawyers who were party to the original settlement.