Trump administration drops $1.8bn 'anti-weaponisation' fund

The Trump administration has abandoned plans to create a $1.8bn (£1.3bn) fund to compensate individuals who claim they were unfairly targeted or investigated by the government, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said.

"We're not moving forward with the fund, period," Blanche told lawmakers on Tuesday.

The proposed "anti-weaponisation" fund was announced to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

The plan drew strong criticism from Democrats and some Republicans, who argued it could result in payment to people prosecuted over the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021, including those convicted of assaulting police officers.

Last week, US Judge Leonie Brinkema temporarily stopped the creation of the so-called compensation fund.

Brinkema barred the Department of Justice (DOJ) department from taking any steps to stand up or operate the fund - including processing or dispersing claims - until a preliminary hearing on 12 June.

Blanche's comments in a tense congressional hearing comes a day after the Justice Department said it "disagrees strongly" with the judge's order but it would abide by the ruling.

While Blanche gave the assurance to abandon the fund in oral testimony, he suggested the justice department may not release a formal statement.

"I'm not committing to putting anything in writing," Blanche said after Congresswoman Grace Meng, a Democrat , suggested that such a statement would help instill trust in the plan. "I don't know what the purpose is of putting something in writing. I'm telling you what we are doing."

The DOJ defended the fund's establishment on Monday, saying in a statement on X that it was created "to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people".

The fund was "open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise", the DOJ said.

The White House directed comments about the decision to the justice department.

The fund had been set aside for "victims of lawfare" to seek compensation, and eligibility for it appeared broad.

Responding to the judge's two-page order last week, a DOJ spokesperson said they were "extremely confident" in the legality of the scheme.

The order came down after two men who alleged the fund was discriminatory filed a lawsuit in Virginia. The plaintiffs said they had been targeted for political retribution by the Trump administration but believed they would not be allowed to file claims for compensation.

Many Trump supporters who were prosecuted over the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 have expressed plans to file claims, as well as members of Trump's former inner circle .

Several Republican lawmakers, as well as Democrats, have voiced opposition to the fund since it was announced last month by Blanche - Trump's former personal lawyer who stepped in as the country's top prosecutor after the ouster of Pam Bondi from that role in April.

Senate Majority leader John Thune, the top Republican in the US Senate, has come out forcefully against the fund.

He reiterated his stance on Capitol Hill on Monday by saying that he preferred that the White House shut down the proposed fund if Congress was to pass a $72bn (53.5bn) budget reconciliation package to fund immigration agencies.

"I made my views very clear on the issue," Thune said, adding that "the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves".

Earlier on Monday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, signalled that his party would push to eliminate the fund.

"Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban Trump's corrupt MAGA slush fund and ensure that no president can ever do this again, " Schumer added on X. "We will make sure that it's dead and can't be revived—just like we did with Trump's ballroom."

Over the weekend, former US Vice-President Mike Pence, who served as second in command during Trump's first term, sharply criticised the fund , saying it was a "bad idea from the start" and should be dropped.