Democratic lawmakers and anti-corruption campaigners reacted with disgust on Monday after two holdout Republican senators struck a deal to move forward with Todd Blanche’s confirmation as US attorney general.

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and John Cornyn (R-Texas) said they would support Blanche’s confirmation after he formally rescinded the $1.8 billion slush fund that had been set up to pay political allies of President Donald Trump who had purportedly been harmed by a “weaponized” justice system under former President Joe Biden.

“We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” the two Republicans said. “From the outset, we were clear that we needed a written document addressing our concerns.”

However, a Monday report in The Washington Post noted that Blanche’s written statement rescinding the fund “appeared to fall short of what Cornyn and Tillis were demanding last week,” as they had originally insisted that “they needed to see revisions to the original settlement agreement” struck between Trump and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that created the fund in the first place.

The deal also left in place a plan to give Trump and his family immunity from scrutiny for past tax returns filed with the IRS, though Blanche clarified on Sunday that this would not shield them from future IRS audits.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) slammed his Republican colleagues for the agreement to confirm Blanche, noting that its “tax immunity deal still gifts Trump an unprecedented, unconscionable benefit worth $100s of millions.”

“Republicans should reject it—and Blanche,” wrote Blumenthal. “Lipstick on this rancid grift is no excuse to confirm him.”

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) criticized the Blanche deal for being “full of loopholes” that wouldn’t prevent Trump “from using taxpayer money to pay off January 6th insurrectionists” in the future.

“Todd Blanche has always been Trump’s personal lawyer—and this ‘deal’ proves he’s unfit to serve as attorney general,” Padilla added. “Congress must pass my legislation to permanently ban any payouts to J6ers.”

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) described the deal to confirm Blanche as “insane corruption” that would do nothing to stop the president from looting the US treasury.

“Republican senators cave to Trump again,” Beyer wrote. “They’ll make his personal lawyer the attorney general without stopping Trump’s ‘license to steal’ lifetime audit protection. Trump and his family will get millions of taxpayer dollars thanks to Republicans’ failure.”

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) shredded Tillis and Cornyn for taking Blanche at his word that the slush fund was fully rescinded, and he predicted that the former Trump lawyer would try to bring it back if the president ordered him to do so.

“Blanche has demonstrated over and over that he is purely a vessel for Trump to punish his enemies and reward his ‘allies,’” wrote Goldman. “The Capitol police who were beaten and assaulted during J6 can’t even get disability but Trump wants to give those who assaulted them millions of dollars—and Blanche will make sure that happens.”

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, similarly argued that there is nothing stopping Blanche from turning around after his confirmation hearing and reestablishing the $1.8 billion slush fund.

Gilbert further noted that Trump under the deal gets to “keep tax immunity for himself, his sons, and the Trump Organization, potentially saving the president millions in taxes owed to the American people.”

Gilbert urged senators to reject Blanche’s nomination when it comes up for a vote, or otherwise risk having the DOJ turned into a “Trump revenge agency.”

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