Trump digs in over $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund amid GOP backlash
Joey GarrisonWASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is digging in over the Justice Department's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund as Senate Republicans revolt over a pot of money that could funnel payments to the president's allies including Jan. 6 defendants.
Trump, in a May 22 post on Truth Social, claimed he "gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward," adding that he could have settled his family's now-withdrawn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service for "an absolute fortune."
"Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!" Trump said.
The president's comments came after Senate Republicans left Washington for a weeklong recess fuming over a fund that faces questions about its legality and raised political concerns for the GOP about establishing the fund while Americans struggle with higher costs.
Trump, in a separate Truth Social post, lashed out at one of the Republican senators who has been most critical, Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Trump called Tillis, who is not running for reelection in November, after becoming a frequent target of Trump, "weak and ineffective."
Tillis told CNN that defendants from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, who Trump pardoned, "don't need restitution, many of them deserve to be in prison."
He called for other Senate Republicans who feel the same to "speak up" on the fund. "This is beyond the pale," Tillis said. "This is not good for my colleagues. There's not one positive thing that could be spun out of this between now and November. This is bad policy. It's bad timing, and it's bad politics."
The GOP backlash prompted Senate Republicans to leave for the Memorial Day weekend and recess without passing a reconciliation bill that would boost immigration enforcement ‒ all but ensuring they won't meet Trump's goal to pass the bill by June 1.
"Obviously our members have very legitimate questions," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said, acknowledging that GOP senators want to make sure the DOJ fund is "fenced in appropriately."
'Utterly stupid, morally wrong,' McConnell says
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the "anti-weaponization" fund on May 18 as part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit that Trump and his family brought against the IRS seeking $10 billion in damages over the president's leaked tax returns.
The Trump family agreed to voluntarily drop the lawsuit ‒ meaning a federal judge won't rule on the merits of the claims ‒ in exchange for the fund's creation.
The fund has few guardrails. A five-person committee ‒ with each member appointed by Blanche ‒ will be in charge of deciding which complainants are rewarded money from the fund, according to the Justice Department.
Blanche has said anyone is welcome to apply for compensation, yet the fund was conceived with a goal to pay individuals who Trump and other say were unfairly targeted by prosecutors in past Democratic administrations. Blanche and other administration officials have not ruled out checks going to the nearly 1,600 Trump supporters who violently stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, including those convicted of assaulting police officers.
"So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?" Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, the former Republican Senate leader, said in a statement. "Utterly stupid, morally wrong – take your pick.”
Amid the unrest in the Senate, the anti-weaponization fund has also drawn bipartisan resistance in the House. Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York introduced legislation that seeks to prohibit federal funds from going to the fund.
Contributing: Zach Schermele of USA TODAY
Reach Joey Garrison on X @Joeygarrison.