Trump's $1.8 billion govt ‘weaponization’ compensation fund put on hold after backlash from fellow Republicans
The compensation fund was labeled as political slush fund with allegations that it could provide financial benefits to the individuals who were convicted in the January 6 Capitol riots.
United States President Donald Trump's $1.8 billion government “weaponization” compensation fund has been put on hold after backlash from the Republicans in Congress, several news agencies have reported. The fund was to compensate victims of the alleged government “weaponization” during Joe Biden's rule.
"It's dead for now," one of the sources told Axios.
The compensation fund was labeled as political slush fund with allegations that it could provide financial benefits to the individuals who were convicted in the January 6 Capitol riots. The plan has not only faced opposition from Republicans, but also Democrats.
The proposal for the government “weaponisation” fund was dropped as senators returned to Washington after their Memorial Day break and faced an impasse with the president over a $72 billion bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol operations.
Speaking to reporters, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he made clear to the White House the fund needed to be killed.
A White House source told Reuters, “They gave us an ultimatum.”
But Republicans sought a better commitment that this fund would be pulled back. “They need to say what they actually mean. They need to say, ‘We’re setting this whole thing aside’,” said Republican Sen. Jim Lankford.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said that if the settlement is “completely pulled, then I’m satisfied. But I haven’t heard anybody say that.”
Act of defiance?
The backlash from Republicans is being seen as an extraordinary act of defiance.
The fund was a part of the legal settlement between Donald Trump and the Justice Department to resolve an unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the alleged mishandling of his tax records.
The $1.776 billion was meant to pay people who said they had been the subject of government abuse.
However, it created an uproar as lawmakers believed it would be used to pay those who attacked the US Capitol in 2021.
On Friday, May 29, federal judges in Virginia and Florida issued orders that temporarily halted the fund until June 12 and called for further review, respectively.
In a statement on Monday, a Justice Department spokesperson said the DOJ "disagrees strongly" with those decisions but, "the Department will abide by the Court's ruling."
The Justice Department statement did not commit to abandoning the fund entirely, only to following the court ruling pausing the fund that is likely to expire this month. A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately address whether the fund had been permanently scuttled.
(With agency inputs)
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