Donald Trump told reporters Monday he knew “very little” about the $1.7 billion “anti-weaponization fund” the Justice Department has agreed to set up in exchange for the president dropping his lawsuit against his own government for $10 billion. “Well, it’s been very well received,” Trump told reporters of the new fund, which could potentially be used to pay people convicted of storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. “I know very little about it,” he claimed. “I wasn’t involved in the creation of it
and the negotiation.” The fund was created as part of Trump’s settlement with the Internal Revenue Service over his leaked tax information in 2020. He is also withdrawing administrative claims for damages related to the DOJ’s criminal cases against him for storing classified documents after leaving the White House and attempting to overthrow the 2020 presidential election. Many Democrats have spoken out against the decision, calling it a “slush fund” and expressing concern the government may give money to those who stormed the U.S. Capitol.
“President Trump dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against his own government in exchange for a $1.776 billion slush fund to steer our tax dollars to election deniers and insurrectionists,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said Monday on social media. When asked in a follow-up question if he believes people who committed violence against police officers should get paid, Trump said it would be up to an as-yet unannounced committee to decide. “It’ll all be dependent on a committee,” he said. “A committee’s being set up of
very talented people, very highly respected people. I think it’s a committee of five.” “It’s all going to be determined by a group of four to five people that are respected and very brilliant at what they do,” he added. Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, also told reporters on Monday that she knows nothing about the new “anti-weaponization” fund. When asked about the announcement, Pirro turned to a colleague and whispered, “What weaponization?” When asked in a follow-up question whether she
believed taxpayer money should be going to people who rioted in the city on Jan. 6, 2021, Pirro said: “I don’t know anything about this.” “I’m not involved in that,” she said. “You always ask these out-of-my-lane questions.” It was Pirro’s office, under then-U.S. Attorney of D.C. Matthew Graves, who carried out a majority of prosecutions against more than 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
anti-weaponization fund, $1.7 billion, Jan. 6 rioters, U.S. Capitol, Justice Department, Trump settlement, Internal Revenue Service, Jamie Raskin, Jeanine Pirro, Matthew Graves, classified documents, election overturning