Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s assurance to senators about the $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and President Donald Trump’s immunity with the Internal Revenue Service is nothing more than a hollow gesture.

With Blanche’s confirmation to permanently lead the Department of Justice in jeopardy, he provided written statements Sunday to appease Republican Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis. The duo, neither of whom are seeking reelection, refused to hold a vote for Blanche without confirmation that the fund was dead and clarity about the president’s standing with the IRS.

But the new deal Blanche signed does nothing to prevent the DOJ from giving large payouts to the president’s allies. Perhaps even worse, Trump’s apparent failure to comply with federal tax laws, to the tune of an estimated $100 million, is still forgiven, at the expense of the American taxpayer.

Both the Anti-Weaponization Fund and the president’s immunity from some audits stem from the DOJ’s legally questionable settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit, brought by Trump, against his own Treasury Department and IRS over the leak of his tax returns in 2019.

Blanche’s update to that pool of money simply states that the “May 18, 2026 order establishing the Anti-Weaponization Fund is rescinded and shall have no force or effect.” That language makes no representation that Trump loyalists who are convicted criminals won’t receive settlements; it just limits the vehicle for the payouts.

The DOJ still has access to Congress’ Judgment Fund, created by taxpayer money that typically pays for legal settlements. Just last week, the DOJ announced a seven-figure settlement to Paul Vaughn, a Tennessee man convicted by a jury for blocking access to an abortion clinic. Similar payments were made to Trump allies Michael Flynn and Carter Page well before the Anti-Weaponization Fund was even floated.

Blanche’s written statement does nothing to prevent more.

Basic contract law also prohibits Blanche’s unilateral modification of the original agreement, which provided that “only with the written agreement of the parties” could it be modified. Because Trump’s lawyer has not signed the “updates,” they’re worthless. Blanche’s efforts to make them seem substantive merely confirm the self-dealing nature of the deal.

The new IRS immunity provision, similarly, doesn’t change much. It states that the deal “applies by its terms only retroactively.” That says nothing more than the original document already had. The new assurance simply refrains from forgiving future unlawful tax debts. The update does clarify that the original deal, which applied to “affiliated individuals,” now applies to “named parties” in Trump’s lawsuit. But that just so happens to be Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization.

Even a future administration that tries to take enforcement action against Trump’s tax returns could be met with his claims that the settlement protects him. Judge Karen Williams recently ruled that because the president was suing his own administration, the lack of adversity between the parties made a bona fide legal dispute impossible.

But she stopped short of ruling on the merits of the settlement, writing, “Whether executive branch actors can privately agree to give themselves and their former clients blanket immunities and billions of dollars in tax moneys for legally undefined grievances was never an issue advanced to this court.” The DOJ has already appealed Williams’s order. As a result, the legal vitality remains uncertain.

When Cornyn and Tillis agreed to go forward with a confirmation vote for Blanche Tuesday, they were agreeing to gamesmanship. And now, they are complicit in a fraud on the American people.

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This column reflects the personal views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law school, a former U.S. attorney and author of the forthcoming book, "The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government."

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