The White House is backing away from a nearly $1.8 billion pot of money critics feared could become a Trump-aligned payout machine. Sources tell Axios that the administration plans to abandon the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" after legal setbacks and mounting resistance from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill. "It's dead for now," one source says. In a post on X, the Department of Justice said it "disagrees strongly" with a federal judge in Virginia's Friday ruling temporarily blocking payments from the $1.776 billion fund but will follow it.
- "The Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people," the DOJ said. "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."
The DOJ struck a different tone Friday, saying it would "not allow the policy preferences of judges to interfere with our efforts to provide restitution to victims of lawfare," the Hill reports. Lawmakers saw the announcement that the department would abide by the ruling as a sign that the administration is abandoning the fund, reports the Washington Post. Sources tell the AP that President Trump is "reconsidering" whether to move forward with it.
- Republican senators' concerns about the fund have held up a bill to fund immigration enforcement that Trump wanted on his desk by today. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday that he had made it clear to the White House that it should give up on the fund. "I do think that the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves," he said. Thune is one of a dozen GOP senators who have reportedly urged the White House to walk away from the fund.
The senators and other critics have raised concerns about a lack of oversight and potential payouts to Capitol rioters, including those who assaulted police, the AP reports. The fund was created after Trump quietly dropped a lawsuit against the IRS, raising alarms among legal experts about whether the government had effectively negotiated with itself. In response to a motion from dozens of former judges on Friday, a federal judge in Florida reopened Trump's IRS case and ordered Trump and the DOJ to explain possible "collusion" and whether they were truly on opposite sides.
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