Topline
The Trump administration is killing plans for a $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund after Republican resistance to the initiative threatened a key immigration enforcement bill from moving forward.
Key Facts
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told the House Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday, “we’re not moving forward with the fund, period,” multiple outlets reported.
The “anti-weaponization” fund has threatened to derail the GOP’s bill that directs billions to Trump’s immigration priorities, as many Republicans are critical of the fund and were expected to join with Democrats to pass amendments that would restrict or kill it.
Reports emerged Monday suggesting the Justice Department was going to pause the fund indefinitely in order to quell Republicans’ concerns and save the immigration enforcement bill, but the agency only said it was complying with a recent court order that blocks the fund more temporarily—leaving it unclear whether the fund was actually being killed.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday despite the DOJ’s vague statement, his understanding is the fund is “off the table,” claiming his conversation about it with Blanche was “very definitive.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., also told Politico he believes the fund is “off the table with regard to” the immigration enforcement bill, and suggested the White House was “in the process of” offering more clarity on the fund’s fate.
Republican lawmakers had suggested the DOJ’s statement on Monday was not enough to alleviate their concerns about the $1.8 billion fund, with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., telling reporters the administration needs to “say what they actually mean,” with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, saying, “It’s pretty clear that the president has to say very explicitly that there’s not going to be a weaponization fund.”
Crucial Quote
“The reasons for the fund—it’s something that President Trump talked about for a long time, which is the fact that there were a lot of people in this country who had their government weaponized against them,” Blanche told the panel. “The reasons for the fund … remain as important as [they] were before.”
What We Don’t Know
Thune and Johnson’s comments Tuesday focused more specifically on the fund in relation to the immigration enforcement bill, and ensuring the fund would not hold up the legislation from passing. It remains to be seen whether the Trump administration could try to reinstate the fund after that bill passes.
Key Background
The Trump administration established its $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund as part of President Donald Trump’s settlement with the IRS, after the president faulted the agency in a lawsuit over his tax returns being leaked. The fund is designed to provide relief to those who believe the federal judiciary has been “weaponized” against them, sparking widespread criticism that it is a “slush fund” for the president’s allies, including Jan. 6 rioters. Even a number of Republicans decried the settlement agreement, and the lawsuit blocking the fund from moving forward is one of several legal challenges that have been filed against it. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema temporarily suspended the government from putting money into the fund or disbursing any funds in an order Friday, keeping the fund on hold while parties file briefs on whether there should be a more extended pause. Her ruling did not make any judgment on whether or not the fund is lawful, and it’s still possible she could allow it to move forward in the future.
