Todd Blanche Ends Anti-Weaponization Fund in New Order After Trump Threat
Newsweek · C · trust 67/100
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has formally scrapped the Department of Justice’s proposed “anti-weaponization fund” intended to compensate those allegedly targeted by government investigations, but which critics viewed as a way to reward allies of President Donald Trump.
In an order issued and published late on Sunday, Blanche—who stepped into the attorney general role following Pam Bondi’s departure in April—said the fund “is rescinded and shall have no force or effect.”
Blanche said during a June hearing that the DOJ had abandoned plans for the $1.8 billion fund, following significant scrutiny over its potential beneficiaries. However, two Republican senators—John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina—said they would hold off on supporting his full confirmation absent a written guarantee that the fund was dead.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to revive the fund if Congress fails to confirm Blanche. In a Truth Social post on Friday, Trump said he could “keep Todd as Acting A.G.” while pushing “hard to get the Anti-Weaponization Bill … PASSED.” While speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, the president said he was prepared to put the fund “back on the table.”
Newsweek has contacted the DOJ, as well as Tillis and Cornyn, for comment outside regular working hours.
The Justice Department unveiled the fund in May, saying it would “provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
The $1.8 billion fund was created “in exchange” for Trump and members of his family dropping a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the unauthorized disclosure of his tax returns, according to the DOJ. The settlement also sought to permanently shield Trump , his family and his businesses from any future IRS investigations.
The funds would have been used to pay individuals who were able to prove that they were victims of government “weaponization.” Several conservative figures—including Mike Lindell, the CEO of MyPillow, and Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader— said they would be applying for compensation through the program.
Following bipartisan backlash and several lawsuits, the fund was temporarily halted by a federal judge in May before being abandoned by the Justice Department in June. But questions lingered over whether the fund could be resurrected, particularly after Trump threatened to codify it through Congress should Blanche’s nomination prove unsuccessful.
“President Trump clearly intends to resurrect the payout pot for punks either by inappropriately establishing another bogus fund or pushing Congress to vote for a bill that the majority of Republicans in the Senate would be against,” Tillis wrote on social media on Saturday.
The DOJ said on Sunday that Blanche’s order “establishes, beyond any doubt, that there is no fund.”
“No members were appointed; no funds were transferred; no process for receiving claims was established; no claims were paid,” it said.
The two Republican holdouts had also been pushing for clarification on the audit protections afforded to Trump, his family and his businesses by the IRS settlement. The documents Blanche released on Sunday also appear to narrow the scope of this immunity to the plaintiffs in the original case.
The announcement comes days before Tuesday’s rescheduled Senate Judiciary Committee vote, ahead of a full Senate vote on Blanche’s nomination.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Shakeema Edwards .
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