Published June 2, 2026
US President Donald Trump’s administration is abandoning about $1.8 billion in “anti-weaponization” funds following widespread political backlash and legal setbacks.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday and confirmed the change in policy.
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“We are not moving forward with the plan for the fund,” Blanche told lawmakers after receiving a rare and fierce backlash from Trump’s fellow Republicans. “period.”
The blunt declaration was an unusual U-turn for the Justice Department, which had just two weeks earlier announced the fund as a settlement of a personal lawsuit brought by President Trump against his own government.
As part of the settlement, the $1.8 billion fund will distribute compensation to victims of the government’s “laws” and “use of arms,” a term used by President Trump to denounce prosecutions under former President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration.
Additionally, the agreement prohibited future audits of his or his family’s past tax records.
Blanche told lawmakers Tuesday that that part of the settlement will remain in place. But he confirmed media reports from the previous day and said the $1.8 billion fund would be secured.
Blanche’s announcement comes as irate senators face an impasse with Trump over a $72 billion bill to fund immigration enforcement operations.
Congressional leaders had questioned whether the Trump administration could pass the bill without abandoning politically unpopular funds.
A person familiar with White House thinking told Reuters that Mr. Branch’s future depends on his ability to address those concerns.
Last month, Blanche blasted lawmakers for failing to commit to blocking the release of funds to the rioters who assaulted police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The fund was created out of a legal settlement between President Trump and the Department of Justice to resolve an unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over alleged mishandling of tax records.
The case also raised concerns about conflicts of interest, since Trump, as president, has influence over both the IRS and the Justice Department.
Already last week, the fund was suspended by a judge as its legality continues to be challenged in court.
White House officials spent much of Monday calling lawmakers to assure them there would be no payments, Reuters reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter who asked not to be named.
Trump cites fund praising post
The White House referred questions about Blanche’s comments to the Justice Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The department said Monday it would comply with a court order suspending the fund until June 12, but did not say whether the fund would be permanently closed.
President Trump broke his public silence on the fund’s future on Tuesday afternoon, posting a link to Substack titled “The truth the media won’t tell you about the Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
The post praised President Trump for funding people who say they were mistreated by the government and criticized the media and Democrats, calling them slush funds.
After a lunch meeting of Republican senators, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that he spoke with Blanche earlier in the day and thought the acting attorney general would allay concerns in the House hearing.
Thune said he wants the bill to focus solely on immigration enforcement and not Trump’s other priorities.
That included scrapping President Trump’s $1 billion proposal to secure a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the White House grounds.
Under the chamber’s budget reconciliation rules, such a provision would have prevented Senate Republicans from passing the immigration funding bill with a simple majority.
Meanwhile, the anti-weaponization fund would bypass Congressional oversight and draw money directly from the Justice Department’s sentencing fund, another thorn in the side of lawmakers.
At a House hearing Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers pressed Mr. Branch to commit in writing to relinquishing the funds, but he refused.
Meanwhile, top Democrats like Sen. Chuck Schumer have promised to introduce legislation in Congress that would prevent such funds from being created in the future.
