Trump retreats on $1.8 billion slush fund for DOJ after rare Republican resistance

The Trump administration is scrapping plans for a $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated allies of the Republican president, the Justice Department’s top official said Tuesday in retreating from a program that faced a fierce political backlash that had threatened to stall key elements of the White House agenda. “We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in response to questions at a House hearing on the Justice Department budget. “Not moving forward ever?” asked Rep. Grace Meng, a New York Democrat. “Correct,” Blanche answered. The blunt declaration marked an extraordinary, and rare, Trump administration turnabout in the face of mounting political opposition to a fund that officials said was meant to compensate people who believe they have been improperly targeted by the criminal justice system. Since the establishment of the fund two weeks ago, it’s been paused by a judge and lambasted by Democrats and Republicans alike who said they were troubled by a lack of oversight and the potential for payouts to participants in the violent Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. The fund drew concerns even from Republicans The furor especially complicated matters in the Senate, where Republicans defiantly left town nearly two weeks ago without passing legislation to fund President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies after Democrats said they would offer amendments to scrap or scale back the compensation fund. Furious, Senate Republicans jettisoned White House security money from the bill and made clear they would not pass the legislation at all unless the administration made major changes to the plan. They had sought reassurances from Blanche before moving forward. The $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was established last month to resolve Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. The Justice Department had said it was an appropriate measure to