President Donald Trump injected fresh uncertainty over the status and future of the “anti-weaponization” fund Wednesday, a day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department would no longer pursue the $1.8 billion fund, which has sparked bipartisan blowback.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Asked in the Oval Office whether the fund was dead or just on hold, Trump responded: “I’d have to ask the lawyers.I don’t know.”“The weaponization fund, as far as I’m concerned, was a beautiful thing,” he told reporters.
“I love it.I think it’s so important.”The Trump administration signaled Monday that it was going to back off creating the fund after a federal judge temporarily blocked it.
The Justice Department said in a statement Monday that while it “disagrees strongly with the decision,” it will “abide by the Court’s ruling.”Pressed about the matter Tuesday, Blanche said at a congressional hearing that the Justice Department was “not moving forward with the fund, period.” He declined to put the commitment in writing.Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche at a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing in Washington on Tuesday.Daniel Heuer / Bloomberg via Getty ImagesAfter Trump’s comments Wednesday, his first public remarks about the fund since the Justice Department’s court filing, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote on X: “This is EXACTLY why @SenateDems will be forcing a vote this week to outlaw Trump’s MAGA slush fund permanently.”The Justice Department created the fund last month as part of a settlement between the IRS and Trump, the Trump Organization and two of the president’s sons — Donald Trump Jr.and Eric Trump — after Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS over his leaked tax documents.Both Democrats and Republicans have condemned the fund, which was designed to compensate Tr...