scrapping the – Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a House hearing the Trump administration will not move forward with a paused $1.8 billion fund designed to compensate allies of President Donald Trump, citing court setbacks and backlash over oversight and potential pa
For a moment at a House hearing Tuesday, the question hung in the air: was the Trump administration still planning to launch a $1.8 billion fund to compensate allies of President Donald Trump—or was it finished for good?
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche didn’t hedge.
“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche said when pressed at the hearing on the Justice Department budget.
Rep. Grace Meng, a New York Democrat, asked, “Not moving forward, ever?”
“Correct,” Blanche answered.
The blunt answer marked a striking turn for a Trump Justice Department that had recently defended the fund as an appropriate response to what officials said was weaponized law enforcement during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration. In the weeks since. the plan has been paused by a judge and drawn fierce criticism from Democrats and Republicans. who said they were troubled by the lack of oversight and the potential for payouts to participants in the violent Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Lawmakers had also demanded assurances that plans for the fund were off the table before they would move ahead with legislation to fund President Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies. When news of the settlement broke. the Senate was already working through an immigration package burdened by an added $1 billion in White House security costs—costs that included funding for Trump’s ballroom project.
As pressure mounted, furious Senate Republicans removed the White House security money from the bill and made clear they would not pass the legislation at all unless the White House made major changes to the settlement.
The money at the center of the uproar—$1.776 billion—was established as the “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” It was tied to Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Under the deal. the IRS agreed to drop all pending probes of Trump over whether he’s paid his fair share of taxes.
When Blanche was asked whether abandoning the new fund meant the administration was also reneging on other parts of the settlement. he said nothing had changed with the IRS-related agreement. “Nothing has changed with that. ” he said. while making clear the administration was only abandoning plans to create the $1.8 billion fund.
The hearing itself, scheduled for discussion of the Justice Department’s budget, quickly became a referendum on the settlement. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, accused Blanche and the administration of corruption.
“This administration has engaged in what are perhaps the most brazen acts of flagrant corruption I’ve ever seen,” DeLauro said. “And you are at the center of many of them, Mr. Blanche.”
The retreat showed signs of accelerating over the last two days. Blanche’s shift surfaced Monday. when a person familiar with the matter said the Republican president was reconsidering whether to move forward with the fund. Also Monday. the Justice Department said it would comply with a Virginia court temporarily blocking the administration’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund. ” effectively agreeing to pause the plan for at least two weeks.
Critics were not done. An additional judge in Florida raised the prospect of reopening the IRS lawsuit, pointing to “grievous allegations” of improper dealing made against the administration by settlement opponents.
Todd Blanche Anti-Weaponization Fund $1.8 billion House Appropriations Justice Department budget Jan. 6 2021 Internal Revenue Service lawsuit leaked tax returns Grace Meng Rosa DeLauro immigration enforcement funding White House security costs