The two Republican senators who had threatened to block Todd Blanche’s confirmation as attorney general said on Monday that they would support his nomination.
Senators John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina said in a joint statement that they were “pleased” that the Justice Department had issued a memo on Sunday offering a written assurance that elements of a deal it had struck with President Trump to resolve his lawsuit against the I.R.S. would not go forward. Mr. Blanche, the acting attorney general, confirmed in the memo that the Justice Department would abandon elements of the deal, conceding to demands from the Republican senators.
Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Tillis had vowed that they would not confirm Mr. Blanche for the role unless he provided written assurances that the Justice Department had formally killed a planned $1.8 billion fund to pay those who claim they were unfairly persecuted by the government.
The senators had also insisted that Mr. Blanche narrow the scope of the sweeping immunity from I.R.S. scrutiny that was granted to Mr. Trump, his family and their businesses under the same agreement.
Mr. Blanche posted two documents on social media on Sunday night: a signed memo in which he said that the Justice Department was formally rescinding an order that created the so-called “anti-weaponization fund” and an unsigned statement in which the agency clarified the terms of the I.R.S. protections.
Mr. Blanche’s announcement came just days before the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote to advance his nomination on Tuesday. With all Democrats expected to oppose his confirmation, any one Republican on the panel could have blocked Mr. Blanche’s nomination from advancing.
But on Monday morning, Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Tillis, who are both on the Judiciary Committee, said in a joint statement that they would allow his nomination to move forward.
“We are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund,” the senators said. They also said they believed the department had “acknowledged in a binding written order” that the audit protections were limited, “addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share.”
Mr. Blanche, who said in his social media post that his announcement came out of “good faith discussions” with the senators, posted the documents after days of negotiations. Although the senators had been working with Mr. Blanche in a bid to end the impasse, Mr. Trump had complicated their efforts in recent days by pushing publicly for the restoration of the fund.
“Todd Blanche was a voice of reason! It will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done,” Mr. Trump wrote on social media on Saturday. He added that he would keep Mr. Blanche, his former defense lawyer, as acting attorney general if the Senate failed to confirm him.
Mr. Trump’s comments appeared to validate the senators’ fears. In a social media post, Mr. Tillis wrote that Mr. Trump “clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against.”
Though Mr. Blanche promised lawmakers during his confirmation hearing that the fund was dead, Mr. Cornyn and Mr. Tillis had urged him to take that position in writing. The memo he released on Sunday night said that the fund “shall have no force or effect” and that the memo “establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no fund.”
In a statement accompanying that memo, the Justice Department said that although Mr. Blanche had “repeatedly advised Congress” about the withdrawal of the fund, “today’s order officially rescinds the May 18, 2026, order.”
That statement also said that only Mr. Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization would be immune from audits, excluding a broader pool of Trump family members and their associates who appeared to be eligible for protection under the original Justice Department deal. Mr. Blanche also stipulated that their future tax returns could still be audited — another one of Mr. Cornyn’s demands.
Still, even in its new form, Mr. Blanche’s order for the I.R.S. to abandon any audits of Mr. Trump’s previous tax returns is an unprecedented and potentially illegal benefit to a sitting president, worth potentially tens of millions of dollars in lower taxes and avoided penalties.
The audit immunity and the fund — which the Trump administration said was established to compensate those it says were victims of “weaponization” under Democratic administrations — have faced criticism since their inception.
Democrats have slammed both provisions as corrupt handouts to the president and his allies, and many Republican senators privately expressed outrage that the fund could be used to reimburse people who were charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the Capitol.
Mr. Trump sued the I.R.S. in January, initially demanding $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns during his first term. The Justice Department, which represents the I.R.S. in federal court, never contested Mr. Trump’s suit, instead agreeing to settle, even though lawyers at the I.R.S. thought the government had a clear defense against the president’s claims.
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