{"id":146,"date":"2026-06-02T22:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=146"},"modified":"2026-06-02T22:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T22:48:14","slug":"acting-ag-blanche-says-the-anti-weaponization-fund-is-dead-period","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=146","title":{"rendered":"Acting AG Blanche Says the \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund is Dead, \u2018Period\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress on Tuesday the Department of Justice would end its nearly $1.8 billion \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund a little more than two weeks after its inception, following legal setbacks and an uproar from lawmakers in both parties.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe are not moving forward with the fund, period,\u201d Blanche testified before the House Appropriations Committee.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department established the fund on May 18 to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit<\/u><\/span> President Donald Trump and his sons brought against the IRS over the leak of their tax returns.<\/p>\n

It was designed to compensate people who claimed to have been unfairly targeted by federal authorities \u2013 those Blanche previously described as \u201cvictims of lawfare and weaponization.\u201d A five-member commission, appointed by Blanche, was set to oversee the fund, with Trump holding the power to remove any of them.<\/p>\n

During questioning by Rep. Grace Meng (D-New York), Blanche said that the reasons for the fund \u201cremained as important as they were before,\u201d but that the Justice Department would not take any further steps to create it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot moving forward ever?\u201d Meng asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorrect,\u201d Blanche said, adding that no commissioners had been named and that there were \u201cno claims made yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meng asked if administration officials intended to sign and release documents reversing the creation of the fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing to reverse,\u201d Blanche said.<\/p>\n

Critics of the fund may still not be satisfied by Blanche\u2019s assurances.<\/p>\n

Responding to Blanche\u2019s testimony on Tuesday, Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman tweeted<\/u><\/span>: \u201cIf you can say it on TV, you should say it in court.\u201d Perryman\u2019s group represents several plaintiffs who sued in federal court to block the program.<\/p>\n

Blanche\u2019s remarks capped two weeks of mounting questions<\/u><\/span> about the purpose and legality of the fund, with lawmakers from both parties voicing alarm that the money could be used to compensate people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n

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Democrats sharply criticized the initiative, with several calling it an unlawful effort to steer taxpayer dollars to Trump allies with virtually no oversight. Republicans scuttled plans<\/u><\/span> late last month to vote on a key funding package for immigration enforcement after senators voiced concerns about the fund.<\/p>\n

On Friday, a federal judge in Virginia temporarily halted<\/u><\/span> work on the fund, barring officials from disbursing any money or taking any further steps toset it up. A hearing in the case is scheduled for June 12.<\/p>\n

Democracy Forward had filed a lawsuit arguing the fund created an unconstitutional and \u201cpolitically discriminatory\u201d claims process. The plaintiffs include former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Floyd, who prosecuted several Jan. 6 cases.<\/p>\n

The Justice Department said Monday that it would comply with the judge\u2019s order<\/u><\/span>, but some Senate Republicans sought a more explicit<\/u><\/span> guarantee from the administration that the fund would not move forward.<\/p>\n

Separately, on Friday a federal judge in Florida ordered Trump<\/u><\/span> to respond to what she called \u201cgrievous allegations\u201d that the deal to resolve Trump\u2019s IRS lawsuit was \u201cpremised on deception.\u201d U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams gave Trump two weeks to address questions about whether the agreement constituted an act of fraud against the court that could lead to a reopening of the case.<\/p>\n

Peter Ticktin, a lawyer who represents Jan. 6 defendants, said hundreds of his clients would have sought payments from the fund. Now, he said, he plans to litigate their claims individually and pursue settlements in federal district court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now need to prove wrongdoing,\u201d Ticktin said in an interview. \u201cWe would have had to prove it anyway but not to the same extent. Now we\u2019re in front of judges in the District of Columbia, some of whom aren\u2019t going to like us.\u201d<\/p>\n

A White House spokesperson did not comment on Blanche\u2019s remarks, and referred questions about litigation over the fund to a social media post<\/u><\/span> Monday from the Justice Department disagreeing with the Virginia judge\u2019s ruling halting the fund.<\/p>\n

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Critics had wanted concrete assurance that President Trump would drop plans for the $1.8 billion fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"yoast_head":"\nActing AG Blanche Says the \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund is Dead, \u2018Period\u2019 - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Acting AG Blanche Says the \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund is Dead, \u2018Period\u2019 - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Critics had wanted concrete assurance that President Trump would drop plans for the $1.8 billion fund.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=146\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-02T22:48:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Acting AG Blanche Says the \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund is Dead, \u2018Period\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T22:48:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146\"},\"wordCount\":693,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/33212311dd28e762d7eaa890aeaf9b25-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Congress\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146\",\"name\":\"Acting AG Blanche Says the \u2018Anti-Weaponization\u2019 Fund is Dead, \u2018Period\u2019 - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/33212311dd28e762d7eaa890aeaf9b25-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-02T22:48:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=146#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/33212311dd28e762d7eaa890aeaf9b25-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/33212311dd28e762d7eaa890aeaf9b25-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"UNITED STATES - JUNE 2: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche arrives for the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Committee Subcommittee hearing titled \\\"Oversight Hearing - Department of Justice,\\\" in Rayburn building on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. 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