President Donald Trump is pausing plans for the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund amid opposition from Republicans in Congress, at least for two weeks.
The Justice Department announced the move Monday after Trump met with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
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“The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people,” the DOJ wrote in a statement. “This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling.”
Earlier in the day, Axios reported that the president planned to drop all immediate plans to move forward with the fund. A senior Trump administration official characterized that report as accurate but noted that the president reserves the right to change strategies.
However, the statement published by DOJ notes that administration plans to abide by the order issued by Judge Kathleen Williams, which set a two-week window for a legal case surrounding the issue to play out.
The fund, which was created through an IRS settlement related to the leak of Trump’s tax returns, came under scrutiny over concerns that payouts could be provided to individuals accused of attacking law enforcement during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
The fund was lawfully created as part of the settlement agreement that the Trump family reached with the IRS to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit against the agency. The fund seeks to compensate individuals whom Trump said the Justice Department has wrongly targeted.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
