CINCINNATI (AP) — While BJ Hill is opening training camp on the active/physically unable to perform list with an undisclosed injury, the Cincinnati Bengals have the benefit of entering the season with the deepest group of defensive tackles that the team has had in years.
The 31-year-old Hill was banged up for much of last season. Coach Zac Taylor said on Monday that he doesn’t expect Hill to miss all of training camp and the D-lineman is doing “as well as we had hoped.”
In March, the Bengals signed a projected starting defensive tackle in Jonathan Allen, who has been one of the more consistent pass rushing defensive tackles in the NFL over the last few seasons.
Then in April, an unexpected opportunity to trade for star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence came up for the Bengals. After making that trade with the New York Giants, every defensive tackle was bumped down one spot on the pecking order.
The Bengals view that as a positive.
“We believe you have to have different waves of guys who can come in, stay fresh and keep you out of those really long drives where guys wear down,” Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said. “You have to have that competent second wave of guys. The teams that have played the best defense have that. Seattle had that last year. They have multiple waves of guys who came in.”
Veteran nose tackle TJ Slaton, the Bengals’ biggest acquisition on defense leading up to last season, now projects Lawrence’s backup. Slaton has a track record of being one of the better run-stuffing nose tackles in the NFL. This week, defensive coordinator Al Golden praised Slaton for “coming along really well” for the Bengals last year.
Golden also spoke optimistically about 2024 second-round pick Kris Jenkins Jr., who he says showed flashes last year before suffering a season-ending injury in December. In 15 games, including four starts, Jenkins had 36 tackles and 1 1/2 sacks.
“This is a huge year for me,” Jenkins said. “Year 3 is make or break for a lot of guys. It’s a big opportunity for a guy like me to establish myself. I’ve got to prove that. I’ve seen the improvement. This is the best I’ve felt about myself mentally, spiritually and physically. There’s competition across the board.”
Behind Lawrence, Hill, Allen, Slaton and Jenkins, the Bengals have 2024 third-round pick McKinnley Jackson and 2026 seventh-round pick Landon Robinson.
Tobin expects to see each of them get an opportunity to show what they’re capable of, and there’s room for any of them to be contributors.
“If he’s up to helping us win, they’re going to get their playing time,” Tobin said. “Hopefully, we’re three and out and we don’t have to be waving them in. We wanted to have enough guys to get through the season if there are injuries or a long drive.”
The improved depth at defensive tackle should really help the Bengals’ edge rushers, who are expected to get more one-on-one pass rush opportunities and more chances to pressure the quarterback. The spotlight is on free agent defensive end Boye Mafe, a major acquisition for the Bengals.
Last season, Mafe was a part of a Seahawks’ defensive line that won a Super Bowl.
“He did it all for Seattle,” Golden said.
With a blend of returning young faces and impact veterans who bring playoff experience to Cincinnati, Taylor sees intriguing qualities in the Bengals’ defense.
“Last year, we were bringing on a lot of younger guys who were going to play key roles for us,” Taylor said. “Now, you’re adding a lot of guys who have played in this league for a long time. They know exactly when you say something what you mean by it, even if it’s just a different word that we’re using. That experience lets them get up to speed significantly quicker.”
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Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II (97) watches during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Tanner Pearson)
Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Boye Mafe, right, talks with a position coach during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Wednesday, July 29, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar)
Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Boye Mafe (53) participates in a drill during practice at the team's NFL football training camp, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Tanner Pearson)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that his $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is “dead” while also continuing to defend it, further complicating his administration’s negotiations with two Republican senators who are blocking his attorney general nominee in protest.
Trump told reporters at Camp David on Friday morning that administration officials had “agreed not to have a fund” that compensates his political allies, yet made clear that he disagrees with that decision.
The comments came hours after an early morning social media post in which Trump said people who had been prosecuted by the Justice Department — many of them for their involvement in the violent Jan. 6, 2001, attack on the Capitol — “are suffering still, many ruined, and I felt that they should be given compensation for what has been done to them.”
Trump’s reluctant declaration that the fund won't be created came as Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, say they won’t support Todd Blanche’s nomination for attorney general until they see that promise in writing. They have been working for weeks with the White House and Blanche, who is now the acting attorney general, to produce a document to that effect, but both senators have said they aren’t satisfied so far.
“The President made it clear today that the so-called Anti Weaponization Fund is still alive, which is exactly why we are attempting to formally end it,” Tillis said after Trump’s initial social media post.
Trump said in his post that Blanche should be immediately confirmed and is a “pawn in this whole thing.”
Blanche said at a hearing two months ago that the anti-weaponization fund would not move forward after Republican senators revolted and held up an immigration funding bill.
But Tillis, who is retiring when his term ends in January, and Cornyn, who lost reelection this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, said they want to ensure that the White House doesn’t reverse course, especially as Trump continues to argue that a fund is needed.
The Justice Department has provided the senators with language that says Blanche’s May 18 order establishing the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is “rescinded and shall have no force or effect,” according to a document reviewed by The Associated Press.
Cornyn and Tillis have said they also want some clarifications on a separate piece of the settlement that would grant Trump and members of his family immunity from tax audits. Cornyn said this week that it was his understanding that the audits could extend to more than 100 different Trump organization subsidiaries into the future.
“Todd Blanche said it was limited to the parties to the litigation — and it was retrospective, not prospective,” Cornyn said. “And all we’re doing is asking them to put that in writing.”
The Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on Blanche’s nomination that had been scheduled for Thursday morning after Tillis and Cornyn said they needed more from the administration before they could provide the necessary votes.
After the meeting was delayed, Trump said in a social media post that he might pull Blanche’s nomination and resubmit it after Cornyn and Tillis leave office next year. But the two sides continued to negotiate through Thursday afternoon, when Blanche, Cornyn and Tillis met on Capitol Hill.
On Friday, a person familiar with the negotiations said talks had been positive but the senators were still awaiting a new offer from the Justice Department. The person requested anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.
The two senators have repeatedly said the Justice Department seemed interested in reaching an agreement, but the White House wouldn’t budge even to aid the confirmation of Trump’s loyal former personal attorney, who has aggressively pursued the administration’s priorities as acting attorney general.
“I think as far as Blanche and the Department of Justice, we were pretty much on the same page,” Cornyn said Thursday. “But then when the president got wind of it, he wasn’t willing to go along with it.”
Tillis said Blanche has been “has been forthright, thoughtful and patient” but attributed the holdup to an “incompetent personal adviser” to the president, even as Trump himself continued to advocate for the fund.
Behind the scenes, Trump legal adviser Boris Epshteyn is being blamed as an obstacle to an agreement that would let Blanche move forward, according to three people who have direct knowledge of the discussions and requested anonymity to discuss them.
Saying the AP’s “sources are wrong,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said “anyone trying to assign blame to the President or his team has no earthly idea of what is going on and clearly is trying to deflect from the issue at hand — Todd Blanche will be an exceptional Attorney General and he should be confirmed immediately.”
Also on Friday, Trump’s attorneys notified a court it would appeal a judge’s scathing ruling that characterized the settlement of the president’s lawsuit against the IRS as an improper exercise in self-dealing. The judge in her order earlier this month referred one of Trump’s attorneys for potential disciplinary action and criticized Blanche’s involvement in the settlement, given his prior representation of Trump.
Blanche has said he disagrees “with the judge’s insinuations” about him.
Even as they are usually deferential to Trump, a number of Republican senators have expressed strong objections to the settlement.
“The criminals who assaulted police officers and defiled our nation’s Capitol are not ‘great American patriots’ who are ‘victims of government abuse,’” Tillis said, echoing Trump’s comments about the rioters who could potentially have received payouts. On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned more than 1,500 people who had been charged in the attack.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said Thursday that the majority of Senate Republicans aren’t comfortable with the settlement fund.
“Blanche said it’s dead, and he testified that it’s not coming back,” Kennedy said. “But for whatever reason, somebody didn’t want to put it in writing.”
Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., from left, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Vice President JD Vance attend a cabinet meeting, Friday, July 31, 2026, at Camp David, the presidential retreat, near Thurmont, Md., Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
President Donald Trump listens during a cabinet meeting, Friday, July 31, 2026, at Camp David, the presidential retreat, near Thurmont, Md., Friday, July 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
