Just hours after President Donald Trump acknowledged that his $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" was "dead," he reversed course and pledged to "push hard" to get it passed.

Early Saturday morning, Trump took to Truth Social to defend the controversial fund and criticize two Republican senators — John Cornyn (R-TX) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) — who have vowed to block the confirmation of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche until they receive written confirmation the fund has been scrapped.

"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," Trump wrote, "then I will keep Todd as Acting A.G., and push hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill."

"It will immediately be back on the table," Trump continued. "And I will get it done."

Trump's post also argued that individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6 in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election had been "badly treated," and included a jab at his Democratic predecessors, referring to "Crooked Joe Biden (and Obuma!)"

Blanche, who served as Trump's criminal defense attorney and in 2024 failed to prevent a criminal conviction in New York City, was described by Trump as "a voice of reason" whom he intends to keep in the acting role. The standoff leaves the Department of Justice without a Senate-confirmed Attorney General for the foreseeable future, as an acting appointee can serve only under limited statutory timeframes without formal nomination approval.

The Truth Social post came shortly after Trump told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce that the fund was "dead."

"Well, it is dead, but you know I wish it weren't, to be honest with you," Trump said. "I think people were horribly treated, horribly abused."

The Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its vote on Blanche's nomination this week amid resistance from Cornyn and Tillis, both of whom will leave the Senate in January. The committee's gatekeeping role means that even a single Republican hold can indefinitely delay a nomination reaching the Senate floor.

Cornyn stated publicly that he believes Trump will face strong resistance in the Senate.

"POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis," Cornyn wrote on X.

Tillis also pushed back against Trump's commitment to the fund on Friday.

"The criminals who assaulted police officers and defiled our nation's Capitol are not 'great American patriots' who are 'victims of government abuse,'" Tillis wrote on X. "Anyone who attacked law enforcement should still be in prison, not getting a check from the federal government."

Update: Approximately 30 minutes after Trump's Truth Social post, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance pointed to an appeal filed on July 31 in the Trump v. IRS case.

"If the $1.776b slush fund and Trump tax immunity deal are really dead," Vance wrote on X, "then why bother to appeal, the judges decision in Trump v IRS that ruled they were dead?"