WASHINGTON—Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and a team of White House aides arrived at a hastily arranged meeting near the Senate chamber in hopes of reassuring Republicans about the $1.776 billion “anti-weapons fund” promoted by President Trump.
Trump ally Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas was not having it.
“Who thought this was a good idea? Who chose this time?” Cotton apparently pressed Blanche, White House legislative affairs director James Brady and others about the fund with several pointed questions inside the Senate’s ornate Mike Mansfield chamber, according to people familiar with the tense conversation.
Cotton was not alone – more than a dozen Republican senators questioned Blanche about the agreement in a two-hour meeting, with people questioning its merits and warning that it would could derail approval A $70 billion multiyear package to finance immigration enforcement.
“This is one of the most difficult meetings I have seen in my entire time in the Senate,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) said on his podcast Friday. “The outrage doesn’t begin to tone it down,” Cruz said, adding that some senators were yelling at Blanche.
For more than a year, Republican senators had largely been respecting Trump’s wishes Supporting controversial cabinet candidates Giving the President free rein on tariffs and the Iran war.
This week, they rebelled en masse, fed up with Trump’s insistence on settling personal scores and advancing pet projects at the expense of his legislative agenda. The tipping point came when Trump endorsed an opponent Texas Senator John Cornyn on Tuesday, a move that stunned many of Cornyn’s allies. He considered it a reckless way to deal with a senior Republican incumbent whose seat the party cannot afford to lose in November.
“I’m heartbroken,” an emotional Senator Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.) said after Trump announced his endorsement. He expressed concern that Republicans would now have to pay a “heavy price” for trying to hold Cornyn’s seat.
Trump’s approval numbers are falling in the midterms. A new Wall Street Journal poll found Trump’s job at 41% approved, while 57% disapproved, down from 45% approval in January. In a troubling sign for the White House, the poll showed that the share of Republicans who say they “strongly approve” of Trump’s job performance fell from 75% in January to 57% in May.
The survey also found that Democrats lead Republicans 48% to 40% on the congressional ballot, which shows which party is the favorite to lead the next Congress. The survey was conducted from May 7 to May 18.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wells said Trump is “the clearest leader, best communicator and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party, and he is committed to maintaining the Republican majority in Congress to continue winning for the American people.”
ICE funding stalled
People familiar with senators’ thinking said more than half of the GOP conference has concerns about the Justice Department settlement fund, which has been set up Pay people who claim political persecution-Including the rioters of January 6, who attacked the Capitol and now stand to take millions from the federal government. Many people are also uncomfortable with Trump’s pressure $1 billion in security funds Connected to his planned White House ballroom, a project that Trump insisted on paying for with private donations.
The “anti-weapons” fund was created as a result of the administration settling Trump’s lawsuit against his own government. It came just before a deadline set by a federal judge, who demanded clarification on how Trump could be on both sides of the case.
The White House “put itself in a bad position. It wasn’t Congress that did it. Congress had no input. That may be part of the problem,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), who lost his recent primary after Trump endorsed an opponent.
The fight has stalled progress on Republicans’ long-sought bill to provide funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski compared it to “dropping a bomb” on the legislative process. Senators wanted to complete it this week before Trump’s June 1 deadline, but were forced to wait until next month.
Trump told reporters Thursday that he didn’t know if he was losing control of the Senate. He made it clear on Friday that he is not withdrawing from the fund.
“I could have settled my case…with a bit of luck,” he said on Truth Social. “Instead, I’m helping others who were so badly abused.”
Trump attacked Senator Thom Tillis (R., N.C.), who had drawn Trump’s ire by calling the fund “a pot to pay for goons” and an “idiot on stilts.” The President asked Tillis- who decided to retire Under pressure from Trump – “He can have all the fun he wants for a few months with some of his RINO friends, while screwing up the Republican Party.”
Tillis responded that Republicans needed to do well in November, but “Stupid things are ruining our chances!”
GOP senators say the ball is in the administration’s court to make changes to the agreement. According to people familiar with the matter, the senators meeting with Blanche sent a message to the White House: You need to fix this.
“The administration will have to offer some suggestions and ideas,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) told reporters Thursday. Asked whether Trump’s support against incumbents played a role in the standoff, he replied: “There’s a political component to everything we do here.”
Cruz said in his podcast that he expects the administration to at least amend the funding or face a “complete rebellion” in the Senate.
A White House official said the administration appreciates Thursday’s response and looks forward to more conversations as it is necessary.
Senators prepared to revolt
There were fears of a revolt in the chamber following Trump’s decision to endorse scandal-plagued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over Cornyn in the state’s Republican Senate primary runoff. In the view of GOP senators, this decision not only puts traditionally red Texas into play, but also feels personal. Cornyn is a long-respected member of the Senate. According to his campaign tally, he worked in leadership, ran for majority leader and has been a prolific fundraiser, collecting donations of more than $400 million for his Senate colleagues, candidates and the National Republican Senatorial Committee since 2002.
Republicans have a 53-47 seat majority in the Senate. Republicans have warned that Paxton, who was impeached by his own party and later acquitted and is in the midst of a “biblical” divorce initiated by his wife, could force the party to spend tens of millions of dollars that could be invested elsewhere on the Senate map in competitive states such as Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa and Alaska.
Paxton’s endorsement came after Trump ousted Cassidy, a physician and committee chair who failed to reach the Senate GOP runoff in her home state after the president endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow (R., La.). Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators who voted to convict Trump in the 2021 Senate impeachment trial.
Some Republican aides saw Trump’s decision to endorse Paxton at the last minute as a sign of his broader frustrations with the Senate. Trump has been harping on social media for months about passing the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to vote lacks the required 60 votes To overcome a Senate filibuster. Trump has said passing the bill is critical to Republican victory in the midterms.
Until this week, Senate Republicans, except for a few like Tillis who are retiring or represent swing states, had mostly maintained a deferential stance toward the president.
Nearly all supported Trump’s controversial Cabinet nominees, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Nearly all voted for the party’s tax and spending bill last year despite concerns about health-care-spending cuts, and most have gone along with their tariffs. The majority has repeatedly voted to block resolutions that would rein in Trump’s Iran war, even Gas prices have increased And Trump’s exit strategy remains questionable.
But that support crumbled when the Trump administration unveiled the settlement fund, which members of both parties derided as a “slush fund,” just as the House and Senate were expected to approve his immigration-enforcement funding package.
“Somebody described it as a galactic mistake, and I think that’s probably true,” Senator Ron Johnson (R., Wis.) told CNN.
The White House on Friday provided statements from seven Senate Republicans expressing praise for Trump and support for his agenda.
“Make no mistake: Senate Republicans and President Trump are united,” Senator Bernie Moreno (R., Ohio) said in a statement.
Former Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), who returned to the U.S. Capitol this week for the first time in five years, said Trump’s decision not to endorse Cornyn has hurt Senate Republicans because so many members respect the Texas lawmaker.
Alexander said, “I’m not sure what the president’s strategy is in purging Senate Republicans who support him 99% of the time.”
Write to Marianne Levin marianne.levine@wsj.comken thomas at ken.thomas@wsj.comlindsay wise at lindsay.wise@wsj.com And on Philip Wegman philip.wegmann@wsj.com
