AP source says Trump reconsidering $1.8B fund
DOJ temporarily pauses fund’s implementation
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President Donald Trump is reconsidering whether to move forward with a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate his allies, a person familiar with his thinking said Monday, as the Justice Department said it would temporarily pause its implementation to comply with a court order.
The potential retreat is a nod to the legal setbacks the fund has encountered since it was announced two weeks ago and a recognition of the mounting political backlash from Republicans concerned by a lack of oversight of the money disbursement and the possibility of payouts to participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The Trump administration had defended the $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund," established to resolve Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, as an appropriate corrective measure for what officials insist was weaponized law enforcement during the Biden administration.
But while some Trump supporters -- including participants in the Capitol riot -- celebrated the announcement of the fund, the reaction among Republicans in Congress has been decidedly more hostile.
The outrage came to a head last month at a closed-door meeting between senators and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas described on a recent episode of his podcast as "one of the roughest meetings I've seen in my entire time in the Senate."
The furor has especially complicated matters in the Senate, where Republicans defiantly left town 10 days ago without passing legislation to fund Trump's immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans who returned to Washington on Monday said they won't have the votes to pass the Homeland Security spending bill until the White House works with them to place parameters on the fund. Many have pushed the administration to impose limits or scrap the idea altogether.
Amid the backlash, a person familiar with the matter, who insisted on anonymity to discuss the president's thinking, said Monday that Trump was reconsidering whether to move forward with the fund.
But it was not clear whether the Justice Department's statement that it would pause action on the fund was definitive enough for the Senate to be able to move the bill forward.
"They need to say what they actually mean," said Republican Sen. Jim Lankford. "They need to say, "We're setting this whole thing aside.'"
Senate Majority Leader John Thune indicated Monday that he hoped the White House would move to drop the fund.
"I do think the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves," Thune told reporters.