Anti-Weaponization Fund Dead? Maybe Not

President Trump now sounds unsure about the fate of his own controversial "anti-weaponization" fund, NBC News reports. A day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress the Justice Department was "not moving forward with the fund, period," Trump said in the Oval Office he didn't know whether it was off the table entirely, or just paused: "I'd have to ask the lawyers." He'd earlier downplayed the idea of the fund's death, CNN reports, only saying "a court ruled against it" when discussing it with the New York Post Tuesday.

Trump praised the $1.8 billion fund as "a beautiful thing" Wednesday, even as the aforementioned federal judge's temporary block prompted the DOJ to say it would comply with the ruling. The fund, created in a settlement over Trump's lawsuit against the IRS, was intended to reimburse Trump allies who say they were targeted by government "lawfare," and could have aided some Jan. 6 rioters. Bipartisan critics have labeled it a slush fund; Senate Democrats plan a vote to shut it down permanently. Speaking on Wednesday, the Capitol rioters also came up, the New York Times reports: Trump said of them, "These are great people that were destroyed, their families have been destroyed. They went there with love."