President Donald Trump appeared uncertain Wednesday about the future of the Justice Department’s proposed $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund,” which has caused some consternation on Capitol Hill.
A day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress the DOJ would not move forward with the fund, Trump was equivocal on whether the White House was officially dropping it.
“I’d have to ask the lawyers. I don’t know,” he told reporters Wednesday afternoon when asked whether the fund was dead or just put on hold. “The weaponization fund, as far as I’m concerned, was a beautiful thing.”
He also claimed about the fund: “I love it. I think it’s so important.”
The administration previously said it would “abide by” a court order blocking the fund, and Blanche told Congress on Tuesday the DOJ was officially dropping the fund.
But Republican senators have clamored for explicit assurance from the administration that the fund will be permanently dropped, with some threatening to hold up voting on amendments as the Senate attempts to advance a party-line funding bill for immigration enforcement.
“We’ll see how that all works out, but a radical-left judge ruled against it,” Trump also said Wednesday. “But these people, their lives have been destroyed.”
TODD BLANCHE SAYS DOJ WILL NOT MOVE FORWARD WITH ANTI-WEAPONIZATION FUND
The president claimed that some of the rioters “were victimized,” leading to bankruptcy, suicide, and targeting by the administration of former President Joe Biden.
The fund has largely been unpopular on the Hill as lawmakers fretted that taxpayer money could go to Jan. 6, 2021, rioters who attacked police officers. The funding is also unpopular with the American public, according to a recent Economist/YouGov poll, including among Republicans.