ICYMI: Opinion: Trump and Blanche just played Senate Republicans for fools

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 4, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Today, in his new opinion column, USA Today columnist Chris Brennan asks an essential question as Blanche’s nomination advances: given Trump is appealing the court ruling that killed his $1.8 billion Jan. 6 slush fund — why are Cornyn and Tillis acting like it's already dead?

As Brennan notes, the Senators dropped their holdout on Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination after Blanche posted a pair of unsigned, unfiled social media documents claiming to rescind the fund. Sure those might be good and well on social media, but “as legal documents, they have zero value.”

Read more below:

USA Today: Trump and Blanche just played Senate Republicans for fools | Opinion

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The Judiciary Committee is set to vote on Blanche's nomination Aug. 4.

And Blanche knew his nomination was going to fail. So at 11:09 p.m. on Aug. 2, he posted to social media what Cornyn and Tillis took to be the cancellation of the slush fund and restrictions on Trump's IRS immunity.

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Blanche posted two documents in his Aug. 2 message.

One is an unsigned Department of Justice memo that says Trump's IRS immunity "applies by its terms only retroactively" from when that part of the settlement was announced on May 19. The other is a DOJ statement signed by Blanche affirming that the slush fund, first announced on May 18, "is rescinded and shall have no force or effect."

As legal documents, they have zero value.

They were not filed in a court. No judge examined or approved them. And Trump did not sign them. On Aug. 3, he told journalists he didn't even look at them and didn't know what they contained.

That's not how federal lawsuits work. Settlements are not amended via social media posts by one party in an action.

It says exactly that in one of the two documents Blanche now claims to have amended – "This Settlement Agreement may be modified only with the written agreement of the Parties."

But it's fitting that Blanche would hoodwink Cornyn and Tillis, since this was all born of a sham lawsuit. And we know Blanche sees himself as Trump's personal attorney, not the acting attorney general.

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Why would Trump be appealing a ruling that stopped his slush fund if Blanche says the slush fund is no more? The president spent the weekend and Aug. 3 talking about what a great idea the slush fund is, even suggesting that he would try to have Congress codify it into law.

"These people were treated horribly, and this fund could have given them some solace," Trump said at the White House on Aug. 3 about criminals who attacked police officers at the Capitol. "So I view that fund as a positive and a lot of Republicans do, too."

Does that sound like a cancelled slush fund to you? Has Trump ever sounded like a president who gives up on terrible ideas that benefit him financially?

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