Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche signed off on a nearly $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate President Donald Trump’s allies for alleged political prosecution, and the decision set off anger among Republican senators whose support he may need for a permanent Justice Department job. Blanche arrived Thursday, May 21, 2026, for a closed-door meeting with GOP senators at the Capitol in Washington as the backlash around him grew.
The money put Blanche at the center of a Republican firestorm at a moment when he was already under scrutiny for a run of splashy moves from the Justice Department since he took the acting post last month. That run included the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, a step that made the department look even more aggressive under Trump’s appointee.
Blanche has said he is not auditioning for the attorney general’s job, telling senators, “I’m not auditioning for the job of attorney general.” But the timing of the fund undercut that message. Lawmakers who would have to support him if he is nominated were said to be agitated by the move, and Democrats and other critics said he had not shed his mantle as the president’s personal attorney.
The dispute also came as Republican senators were expected to abandon a separate proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Trump’s ballroom after it failed to win enough party support. Together, the episodes showed how quickly Blanche has become a political problem for Republicans who want him to look like an independent law enforcement official, not a loyal extension of the president.
That is the test Blanche now faces: whether he can persuade skeptical senators that he is fit to lead the Justice Department permanently, while carrying out moves that keep tying him to Trump’s personal and political interests.
