The anti-weaponization fund dead Blanche refused writing Trump tax audit protected story just took its most dramatic turn yet and what came out of that June 2 congressional hearing is somehow more alarming than the fund itself ever was. The $1.776 billion slush fund for Jan. 6 rioters is officially dead. But the settlement that created it is still alive. Trump’s family is permanently shielded from IRS tax enforcement. And the acting Attorney General of the United States refused repeatedly, on camera to put any of his commitments in writing.
Here is everything that happened and what it actually means.
“We Are Not Moving Forward With the Fund, Period” What Blanche Actually Said
On June 2, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies to discuss the DOJ’s budget. Under questioning, he made the most direct statement anyone in the Trump administration has made about the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund: “We are not moving forward with the fund, period.”
Rep. Grace Meng of New York immediately followed up: “Not moving forward, ever?” Blanche confirmed. The anti-weaponization fund dead Blanche refused writing Trump tax audit protected situation was finally, officially confirmed the fund that had been announced on May 18, that a federal judge in Virginia had temporarily frozen, and that had triggered bipartisan outrage in Congress, was being scrapped entirely.
But then Meng asked Blanche to put that commitment in writing. And this is where the hearing got extraordinary.
Why Blanche Refused to Put Anything in Writing And Why That Matters
Blanche’s response to the request that he formalize his commitment was blunt: “I don’t know what the purpose of putting something in writing. I’m telling you what we’re doing.” He repeated this position multiple times. Meng pointed out that the original fund announcement the one being reversed had been put in writing. She pointed out that Blanche was not technically under oath during the hearing. She said: “I think a lot of Americans, both sides of the aisle, are concerned about it, and it would restore a lot of trust about this issue.”
Blanche still refused.
The anti-weaponization fund dead Blanche refused writing Trump tax audit protected story hinges on this refusal more than anything else. An acting attorney general who will verbally abandon a controversial $1.8 billion program but will not put that abandonment in any formal document is leaving every door open. Nothing he said on June 2 legally prevents a future DOJ official or Blanche himself from quietly reviving the fund after the court cases that blocked it are resolved. The court freeze was a temporary restraining order, not a permanent injunction. The underlying settlement agreement has not been rescinded.
Trump’s Family Is Still Permanently Protected From IRS Audits
Here is the part of the anti-weaponization fund dead Blanche refused writing Trump tax audit protected story that has received almost no coverage. The fund was created to settle a lawsuit Trump filed against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. That settlement agreement is still in place even though the fund it created is being abandoned. And buried inside that settlement is a provision that permanently shields Trump, his family members, and related business entities from IRS tax audits and enforcement actions connected to tax returns filed before the settlement date.
Blanche confirmed this under questioning. The president of the United States and his family have been granted permanent immunity from tax enforcement by the same Justice Department that is supposed to enforce tax law equally. The fund is dead. The immunity is not.
A Federal Judge Is Now Asking If DOJ Committed Fraud on Her Court
The situation escalated further when U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams the Florida judge who originally oversaw Trump’s IRS lawsuit issued an order pressing DOJ for answers. A bipartisan group of former federal judges had filed a request asking her to reopen the case, arguing that the DOJ may have committed fraud on her court. Their argument: the settlement agreement that created the fund was structured in a way that deceived the court about its true purpose and scope.
Judge Williams agreed the question was serious enough to pursue. The anti-weaponization fund dead Blanche refused writing Trump tax audit protected case now has an active judicial inquiry into whether the government committed fraud in the original court proceedings that produced the settlement a settlement that is still legally in place even after the fund it funded has been abandoned.
The Republican Senators Who Helped Kill It And What They Got in Return
One of the most underreported dimensions of this story is that it was Republican opposition not just Democratic that ultimately forced Blanche’s hand. Republican senators had opposed the fund because it had no legislative oversight and because it could have paid people convicted of attacking police officers on January 6. That opposition stalled a separate $70 billion immigration enforcement funding package that Republicans badly wanted. The fund became a hostage to its own political toxicity within the president’s own party.
What Republicans got in return for their pressure is unclear. What the public got is a verbal promise, made in a congressional hearing, by an official not under oath, who refused to write it down.
What Happens Next
The anti-weaponization fund dead Blanche refused writing Trump tax audit protected situation is not resolved — it has entered a new phase. The Virginia court freeze remains in place. The Florida fraud inquiry is active. The underlying settlement agreement has not been rescinded or amended. Trump’s family remains shielded from IRS enforcement. And Blanche’s verbal commitment that the fund is dead has no legal force whatsoever.
The next major moment is the ongoing court proceedings. If a judge rules that the original settlement was fraudulent, the entire legal architecture that created the fund and the tax immunity it produced could be challenged. If no court intervenes, the fund is dead in practice but legally revivable at any point.
A government official said under pressure that a controversial program is over. Then refused to write it down. That sentence alone tells you everything about where this story actually stands.
