The Trump administration’s controversial plan to compensate people who were victims of government “weaponization” is over before it ever really began.
No More Fund
As reported on Thursday’s AM Update, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers during a Tuesday appearance before a House Appropriations subcommittee that the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” would not be moving forward.
“So, look, we’re not moving forward with the fund… period,” he said in response to a question from Congresswoman Grace Meng (D-NY). “The reasons for the fund is something that President Trump talked about for a long time, which is the fact that there were a lot of people in this country who had their government weaponized against them. The reasons for the fund, I think, remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund.
The answer seemed to surprise Meng, who replied, “Not moving forward ever?” to which Blanche answered, “Correct.” But his confirmation came a day after Axios, citing two senior administration officials, said plans for the fund were “dead for now.”
Meng and fellow Democrats proceeded to pressure Blanche, President Donald Trump’s former personal defense lawyer, to commit to rescind, in writing, his May 18 order establishing the $1.776 billion
“Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
Blanche repeatedly refused to commit to the demand, instead telling the subcommittee the fund – which was created as part of a settlement with the president to end his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leaking of his 2019 and 2020 tax returns – “wasn’t set up yet” and there were “no commissioners named.”
The Controversy
The taxpayer-funded “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was designed to compensate individuals who claimed they were politically targeted or unfairly prosecuted by the federal government, but it faced legal challenges and bipartisan scrutiny from the start.
Opponents labeled it a “slush fund” for President Trump’s allies, including January 6 defendants, while Senate Republicans reportedly held off on a vote to fund ICE and Border Patrol originally planned for last month due, in part, to concerns about the optics.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) revealed on his The Verdict podcast how a May 22 meeting between acting AG Blanche and Senate Republicans about the fund went sideways, saying “fiery does not begin to cut it.” He estimated at least half of the 45 GOP senators in attendance “were pissed” and “blasting the attorney general.”
Cruz recalled that “they were screaming” at Blanche “the entire meeting” as he was “trying to lay out the legal basis” for the fund. In Cruz’s view, the legal basis was “quite sound,” but that wasn’t enough to save it.
Back on Track?
At Tuesday’s hearing, Blanche told lawmakers that scrapping the fund will not affect the part of the settlement with Trump that, in effect, prevents the IRS from investigating the president, his family, and his businesses for existing tax violations.
In the wake of his testimony, Senate Republicans appear to be moving forward with the reconciliation package to fund the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration agencies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) told reporters Tuesday that he is “hopeful” Republicans will now have the votes to pass it.
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