{"id":16724,"date":"2026-07-15T11:12:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T03:12:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16724"},"modified":"2026-07-15T11:12:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T03:12:56","slug":"durbin-says-blanche-told-him-doj-anti-weaponization-fund-was-a-mistake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16724","title":{"rendered":"Durbin says Blanche told him DOJ \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund was \u2018a mistake\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the Trump administration\u2019s $1.776 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund \u201ca mistake\u201d in what the senator described as a courtesy meeting before Wednesday\u2019s hearing to review Blanche\u2019s nomination to lead the Justice Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, when outrage over the fund came up in their conversation, Blanche said, \u201cWhat more can I do? What more can I say? I made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Trump and the Justice Department faced broad backlash, including from the GOP, over a settlement the president made after bringing a $10 billion suit against the IRS over the leaking of his tax returns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Blanche previously told lawmakers the Justice Department was \u201cnot moving forward with the fund. Period,\u201d he has resisted calls to put such a position in writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durbin said when he pressured Blanche to do something to make that a \u201ccredible\u201d statement, Blanche said he would work with Congress to \u201ccodify\u201d its ending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Justice Department did not respond to request for comment on the exchange.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fund, as well as a recent court ruling determining the Justice Department and Trump colluded in dismissing his case and later crafting the fund, are sure to be probed by the committee\u2019s democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams found \u201cthere was never a question as to who would prevail\u201d in the suit and that it was \u201cbrought to manipulate the judicial process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durbin said Blanche in their meeting blasted the judge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe believes he was a victim of a hit job by this judge in Florida,\u201d Durbin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats have invited victims of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein to attend Blanche\u2019s confirmation hearing, saying they would give the nominee the chance to directly address them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a past hearing with Blanche\u2019s predecessor, Pam Bondi, she refused to turn around and acknowledge Epstein victims present, photographs of which became a defining moment of her tenure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durbin described Blanche as being something of a smooth operator who would be able to dodge certain questions, including on past attempts to ask about things like pardons, which are approved by the president but where the Justice Department is traditionally highly involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a good lawyer, and he\u2019s been at this a long time as a prosecutor and defense lawyer, and he has a way about him that is \u2014 it\u2019s not an \u2018aw shucks,\u2019 but it\u2019s pretty close to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the Trump administration\u2019s $1.776 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund \u201ca mistake\u201d in what the senator described as a courtesy meeting before Wednesday\u2019s hearing to review Blanche\u2019s nomination to lead the Justice Department. According to Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, when outrage over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":16725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[4250,2592,4251],"class_list":["post-16724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-blanche","tag-durbin","tag-fund"],"yoast_head":"\nDurbin says Blanche told him DOJ \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund was \u2018a mistake\u2019 - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=16724\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Durbin says Blanche told him DOJ \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund was \u2018a mistake\u2019 - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called the Trump administration\u2019s $1.776 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund \u201ca mistake\u201d in what the senator described as a courtesy meeting before Wednesday\u2019s hearing to review Blanche\u2019s nomination to lead the Justice Department. 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