“We are not moving forward with the fund. Period.”

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s two sentences before a House subcommittee on Tuesday afternoon were brief, blunt, and fatal. With them, the Trump administration buried its own $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” — a signature second-term initiative that had drawn the ire of Democrats, legal experts, and, crucially, a critical mass of Republican senators.

Just two weeks earlier, the Justice Department had defended the programme as a necessary corrective to what officials described as weaponized prosecutions under former President Joe Biden. On Tuesday, the same department walked it back entirely.

A Lawsuit Becomes a Programme

The fund’s origins were unusual. Trump filed a $10 billion civil lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns by a former government contractor. Rather than resolving the case narrowly, the Justice Department — under Trump’s own control — settled and used the agreement to create a compensation programme open broadly to anyone who claimed to have been targeted by the federal government.

Critics saw a vehicle designed to reward political allies. Critics raised concerns about the programme’s structure and oversight. The label “slush fund” stuck fast enough to cross the aisle.

Republicans Break Ranks

Blanche inflamed the backlash last month when he declined to commit to barring people who assaulted police officers during the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot from receiving payouts. The non-answer alarmed Republicans who had weathered plenty of Trump controversies but were not prepared to defend what looked like a rewards programme for rioters.

NPR reported that the issue triggered rare public Republican pushback against the White House. Even after the DOJ said it would abide by a court order pausing the fund, Republican senators continued pressing for its permanent elimination, viewing it as a liability heading into midterm elections.

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema had compounded the administration’s problems by temporarily blocking the fund, barring the government from taking further action to create or operate it while she considered a longer-lasting injunction. The pause held until at least June 12.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters he had spoken with Blanche earlier on Tuesday and expected the acting attorney general to ease concerns at the hearing. Thune made clear he wanted the immigration enforcement bill kept “narrowly focused” — free of the compensation fund and other White House priorities, including a provision to spend $1 billion on a 90,000-square-foot ballroom at the White House that Trump had requested.

The $72 Billion Hostage

The fund’s political toxicity became acute when it threatened to sink a $72 billion bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol operations. Congressional leaders questioned whether the package could pass if the administration clung to the compensation programme, according to Al Jazeera.

White House officials spent Monday telephoning lawmakers to assure them the fund would produce no payouts, according to two sources familiar with the conversations who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity. A person familiar with White House thinking told the news agency that Blanche’s future hinged on his ability to address those congressional concerns.

Private assurances did not suffice. Republican senators wanted a public commitment, and on Tuesday Blanche delivered one — albeit a verbal one.

What Survived

The fund is finished. The settlement that created it is not. Blanche confirmed that the DOJ’s agreement permanently barring the IRS from auditing Trump’s past tax records — or those of his family and companies — remains in force. The president’s personal benefit survived the political sacrifice.

Democratic lawmakers pressed Blanche to commit to the fund’s termination in writing. He declined. Trump, for his part, broke his silence on the subject Tuesday afternoon by posting a link to a Substack article titled “The Truth the Media Won’t Tell You About the Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which praised the programme and accused critics of smearing it.

The distance between the president’s public defiance and his own Justice Department’s surrender is the measure of this initiative. What felled the fund was not Democratic opposition, which was a given. It was the refusal of Trump’s own party to carry water for a programme they could not explain to their constituents — a rare moment when the political costs of loyalty exceeded its rewards.

Sources