President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to revive an “anti-weaponization fund” through legislation, intensifying a dispute with two Republican senators who are holding up confirmation of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche over the fund.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said he would keep Blanche as attorney general in his acting capacity and “push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill” if Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas continue to withhold their support for Blanche.

Such a bill, he wrote, “will immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done.”

Tillis responded in a post on X, saying 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.”

The “punks” Tillis referenced include rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop the certification of Joe Biden as president, after Trump encouraged them to “fight like hell.” Trump told reporters at Camp David on Friday that even though the $1.8 billion fund is “dead” he would still “like to see them compensated.”

No member of Congress has introduced a bill establishing a fund to compensate people who claim to be unfairly prosecuted by the federal government. The anti-weaponization fund, which was initially part of a deal to settle Trump’s lawsuit with the Internal Revenue Service, has been criticized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as a taxpayer slush fund.

Tillis and Cornyn, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who are leaving Congress when their terms expire in January and have personal beefs with Trump, have declined to back Blanche’s nomination, citing concerns about the IRS deal. Trump had threatened to have Tillis ousted, and Cornyn lost his primary to Ken Paxton, the Trump-backed Texas attorney general. Both senators have said that in order to win their support, Blanche must formally declare the fund dead and narrow the scope of the tax audit immunity afforded to Trump and his family under the deal.

Blanche has repeatedly insisted that there are no more efforts to establish the fund, but the Justice Department has resisted committing to it in writing. A Senate Judiciary Committee vote on Blanche’s nomination Thursday was postponed after Cornyn and Tillis rejected the Justice Department’s proposals.

The committee is scheduled to hold an Aug. 4 vote on Blanche’s nomination, though it’s unclear whether that session will take place given the latest back and forth. Trump previously floated withdrawing Blanche’s nomination until Tillis and Cornyn leave Congress, though opposition to the anti-weaponization fund appears to run deep in the Senate.

“It’s unfortunate that Todd Blanche, who I consider qualified for the job, will not be confirmed because of this reversal,” Tillis wrote on X about Trump’s latest threat. “Hopefully, we can resolve this by Tuesday.”

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