President Trump is dropping his $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, the Justice Department announced on Monday.
Senate Republicans complained about the lack of guardrails on the fund and grilled Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about who could apply for compensation when he met with them on Capitol Hill two weeks ago.
The DOJ said it would abide by a court ruling that put a pause on the fund while legal issues were being sorted.
“The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
“This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling.”
Trump was getting blowback from his party on the issue. Senate Republicans fretted that the money could be used to pay rioters from January 6th and Trump’s political allies even though people like Hunter Biden were also eligible to apply.
As part of the fallout, Senate Republican leaders delayed action on a $72 billion partisan bill to fund Trump’s immigration crackdown after dozens of Republican lawmakers objected to the establishment of the fund.
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Trump agreed to the fund as part of his settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit with the IRS. In exchange for dropping the lawsuit, the Justice Department was to establish the fund with the IRS and anyone who believed they were a victim of the weaponization of the federal government would be eligible to apply for financial compensation.
A district judge was looking into the fund after a group of former federal judges questioned its legitimacy. It was on a two-week pause while the legal issues were considered.
It’s unclear how this this decision will affect Trump’s settlement with the IRS.
