the enablers

Todd Blanche

Attorney General

At his confirmation hearing

“I’m his lawyer. Was his lawyer. Now I’m the deputy attorney general.”

He defended Donald Trump in the trial that made him a convicted felon, then took over the Justice Department that had prosecuted his client. The Senate confirmed him Attorney General on August 8, 2026, 50 to 49; the only Republicans to vote no were Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, over the $1.8 billion fund his department built to settle the president’s grievances.

From the defense table to the top of the Justice Department

The president's lawyer, now the nation's

I'm his lawyer, was his lawyer, and now I'm the deputy attorney general.

At his confirmation hearing · July 2026

Blanche personally defended Trump in the New York trial that ended in 34 felony convictions, then became Attorney General atop the department that brings federal cases. At the hearing he added, "I'm not sure there's very many people who have ever had a criminal defense attorney who calls that person their friend." Senator Adam Schiff called it a "Freudian slip."

Sources: The Hill · NPR

The fund that split his own party

A settlement that pays the president

Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R) · August 2026

Under Blanche, the Justice Department built a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization fund." In it, Trump drops his own $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for taxpayer money to compensate people he says were wrongly targeted, plus a provision granting him and his family lasting immunity from tax audits. Republican Senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, both pushed out after Trump backed challengers against them, refused to confirm Blanche until the fund was killed in writing. On August 1 Trump vowed on Truth Social to keep Blanche as acting attorney general and "push hard" to pass the fund anyway; Tillis replied that Blanche now would not be confirmed. Both he and Cornyn then folded, and the Senate confirmed Blanche on August 8, 50 to 49, with only Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski voting no.

Sources: Tillis (R): 'payout pot for punks' (Axios) · Tillis (R) responds (Axios) · Confirmed 50-49, only Collins and Murkowski opposed (NBC News)

In the record

His attorney general endorsed a candidate at a campaign rally, something no recent AG of either party had done.He sued the IRS for $10 billion, then his own Justice Department settled the case with itself, handing him permanent tax immunity and a $1.8 billion fund for “victims” of federal investigations. Thirty-five former judges from both parties called it “a fraud on the court.”