Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers the Trump administration is abandoning a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate the president’s allies after backlash and a judge’s pause. At the same time, the administration says it is still moving forward w
When Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche sat before members of Congress on Tuesday, the answer came fast and final: the administration would not move forward with a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of President Donald Trump.
“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche said during questions at a House hearing on the Justice Department budget.
Rep. Grace Meng, a New York Democrat, pushed for clarity. “Not moving forward ever?” Blanche replied, “Correct.”
The blunt reversal marked a rare turnabout for the Trump administration—one driven by mounting political pressure and legal complications that had already threatened to derail other White House priorities.
The fund, established two weeks earlier, had been paused by a judge and quickly became a lightning rod. Democrats and Republicans alike criticized it. saying there was not enough oversight and raising concerns about the possibility of payouts tied to participants in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Blanche’s decision came as the administration acknowledged another high-stakes legal move it plans to keep intact. While retreating from the compensation fund, Blanche said the government is sticking with a deal to permanently drop tax claims against President Donald Trump.
Blanche framed that as an “extraordinary flex of executive power,” language carried in the administration’s effort to keep the president from further examination of his finances and legal conduct.
The contrast—scrapping a program facing backlash while preserving the tax deal—underscored how the legal and political battles around Trump’s agenda have tightened into a single question: which parts of the administration’s push will hold, and which will be pulled back under pressure.
Judge-issued pause and bipartisan condemnation had already made the fund’s path unstable. Now, with Blanche declaring it off the table, the immediate fight shifts away from compensation and back toward what the administration continues to protect.
The broader stakes remain clear. The president’s tax position hinges on a deal the administration says it will maintain. even as it abandons a fund whose supporters said it could correct alleged improper targeting by the criminal justice system—an approach that critics said risked rewarding people connected to Jan. 6 and lacked the safeguards people expected from a federal program involving the courts and the public interest.
Todd Blanche $1.8 billion fund Justice Department House hearing Grace Meng Jan. 6 2021 tax claims executive power U.S. Capitol riot
So they just killed it because a judge said pause? Thought judges decide things forever but I guess not.
Not moving forward ever?? Sounds like they panicked. But they’re still dropping tax claims on Trump so it’s like… pick and choose what rules apply.
Wait I’m confused, this “fund to compensate allies” is that like reparations for Jan 6 people or something? The article says oversight and possible payouts but also says the tax deal is still happening so what are they actually doing here.
“Extraordinary flex” lol okay sure. Meanwhile this $1.8 billion thing is gone but the tax deal stays? That tells me the system is only fair when it helps one side. Also Blanche name feels familiar like he’s always showing up in headlines.