Trump's threat to push ahead on settlement fund injects new uncertainty into attorney general talks

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to push forward with a fund to compensate his allies if two Republican holdouts do not support his nominee for attorney general, injecting fresh uncertainty into a Senate confirmation vote planned for next week and underscoring once more his interest in securing payouts for supporters who feel unjustly persecuted.

Trump asserted in his Truth Social post that he would keep acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in his current role and press ahead on the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” if Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina refuse to back the former federal prosecutor who was a key member of Trump’s defense team at a time when the Republican battled four indictments.

The administration needs their votes, but both lawmakers have protested Blanche's selection because of a lawsuit settlement that created a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who feel mistreated by the criminal justice system and provided Trump and family members with immunity from tax audits.

In a sign of apparent progress Friday, Trump pronounced the fund “dead.” As negotiations continued into the night, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Chuck Grassley, rescheduled a committee vote for Blanche that had been postponed earlier in the week.

A spokesperson for the committee said Grassley, R-Iowa, would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess and that putting the Tuesday vote on the calendar “gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee.”

But by Saturday morning, those plans were in jeopardy with a new announcement from Trump that appeared to put the fund back on the table — and dinged the two senators who are leaving Capitol Hill when their terms end in January.

“If Senators Cornyn and Tillis, both upset because I wouldn’t Endorse them (they lost, and quit, respectively!), aren’t going to approve Todd Blanche, one of the most respected professionals, according to everybody, in the Country, to be the United States Attorney General, then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard” to restore the fund. The president insisted, as he previously has, that the fund “takes care of those who have been so badly treated” during the administrations of Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Tillis, who is retiring, took note of the president's turnabout by saying in a post on X that despite Trump's comments Friday, he “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.”

He added: “It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal. Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday."

Blanche had 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 and Cornyn, who lost reelection this year after Trump endorsed his primary opponent, said they want to ensure that the White House does not reverse course, especially as Trump continues to argue that a fund is needed.

The Department of Justice 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 clarification on a separate part 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 the audits could extend to more than 100 Trump Organization subsidiaries in 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.”

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, arrives for a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., arrives for a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on Capitol Hill, Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

FILE - Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is sworn in as he appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

President Donald Trump, left, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe speak as they depart following a cabinet meeting at Camp David, near Thurmont, Md., Friday, July 31, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

BOGOTÁ, Colombia (AP) — Colombia’s government on Saturday blamed the nation’s largest remaining rebel group for an explosion outside a police base that injured 11 officers and killed a police dog.

The attack took place early Saturday in Cucuta, a city along Colombia’s border with Venezuela, where drug gangs and rebel groups have long fought for the control of smuggling routes.

Gen. William Rincon, the director of Colombia’s police, said the blast came from a truck that had been left outside a building that serves as the headquarters for police in Norte de Santander Province. The pre-dawn explosion damaged much of the building’s roofing and shattered its windows.

“This was a vile terrorist attack,” Rincon said. “We will not rest until we find those who are responsible and have them prosecuted.”

In a message on X, Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez blamed the National Liberation Army rebel group for the attack, and offered a $60,000 reward for information leading to those behind the car bombing.

The attack comes as Colombia prepares to inaugurate a new president. Next Friday, Abelardo de la Espriella, an ultra conservative who has promised to cancel peace talks with the nation’s remaining rebel groups, will be sworn into office in Cali, another Colombian city where rebel groups have staged attacks recently.

The National Liberation Army, or ELN, has been fighting Colombia’s government for decades, and is believed to have 6,000 fighters operating in Colombia and neighboring Venezuela.

The group was founded in the 1960s by union leaders, students and peasants seeking social justice, but has largely transformed into a criminal organization that profits from illegal gold mining and drug trafficking, according to Colombian authorities, with President Gustavo Petro often accusing its leaders of acting as “drug lords dressed up as guerrilla fighters.”

Under outgoing President Gustavo Petro, who was elected in 2022, Colombia staged peace negotiations with the ELN. But the talks fell apart early last year, after the ELN staged attacks in the rural area north of Cucuta, in which an estimated 78 people were killed. At least 56,000 had to flee their homes.

Incoming President Abelardo de la Espriella has said he will confront the ELN and criminal groups in Colombia with greater military force, and will resume the aerial fumigation of coca crops, the raw material for cocaine.

Petro attempted to launch peace talks with several armed groups during his tenure under a strategy known as Total Peace. But critics say many of these groups used ceasefires granted to them by the government to regroup, rearm and strengthen their grip over rural communities.

A peace deal between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia led to the disarmament of more than 13,000 guerrilla fighters in 2016. That left a power vacuum in some rural areas that smaller groups like the ELN have tried to fill.

Police inspect the scene after a truck exploded outside a police station in Cucuta, Colombia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Caicedo)

Police inspect the scene after a truck exploded outside a police station in Cucuta, Colombia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Caicedo)

Police inspect the scene after a truck exploded outside a police station in Cucuta, Colombia, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Mario Caicedo)