Acting US Attorney General Blanche locks in nomination to lead DOJ

Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche locks in nomination to lead the

Justice Department after two Republican senators who previously

threatened to block his advance green light their support.

This comes after the Justice Department formally rescinded the 1.8-billion-dollar

"Anti-Weaponization Fund" and a push to limit the scope of a

separate piece of the settlement that proposed broad immunity for

US President Donald Trump's family from tax audits.

Weeks after refusing to back Acting US Attorney General

Todd Blanche, GOP senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis

confirm their endorsements, paving the way for the Senate Judiciary

Committee to nominate Blanche for the top job.

The go ahead comes after Blanche issued a fomal

order terminating US President Donald Trump's 1.8-billion-dollar

"Anti-Weaponization Fund" to settle his lawsuit against

the IRS and compensate people

unfairly prosecuted.

Trump says the fund would have been "reimbursement for the pain"

for those who had faced charges from the January 6, 2021 attack on the

Capitol.

Speaking to reporters at the Oval Office, Trump says the

decision to scrap the fund is "a very sad thing."

“These people were treated horribly. And this fund could have

given them some solace. But, you know, it happens to be very

popular among many quarters. And I don't participate in that fund.

I was certainly treated badly. I don't participate, but I thought it would

be very fair for people that spent years in prison, people that were

treated so badly for, in many cases, people that did absolutely

nothing wrong.”

The two senators also pressed the DOJ to

limit the scope of a separate piece of the settlement that

provided broad immunity for Trump and members of his

family from tax audits.

The DOJ clarifies in writing that the tax audit immunity agreement

"applies by its terms only retroactively" to claims open at the time of the

settlement and does not protect the president from examination

of future tax filings.