President Trump expressed support Sunday for the now-defunct $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who say they were targeted by the Biden administration’s “weaponization” of government but stopped short of committing to revive it.
In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the president said reviving the Anti-Weaponization Fund would require congressional approval and he would be “disappointed” if it failed to pass.
“People have been hurt so badly by radical left lunatics that worked for the Biden administration and Sleepy Joe,” Mr. Trump said, referring to former President Joseph R. Biden. “They’ve committed suicide. They’ve lost their jobs. They’ve lost their families. They’ve lost their wives. They’ve lost everything over a fake weaponization of government.”
He said that if it were up to him, he would pay them the “kind of money they deserve.”
“As I understand it, the weaponization fund was going to be set up by a group of people, people that could be picked by anybody, fair people, smart people, and they will go on an individual case basis,” the president said.
The Department of Justice permanently abandoned a plan to set up the Anti-Weaponization Fund, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress last week.
“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Mr. Blanche said during a hearing of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the Justice Department’s funding.
Mr. Blanche’s testimony came after the department announced Monday it would adhere to a temporary injunction blocking action on the fund while a federal court case in the Eastern District of Virginia is pending.
A hearing in that case is scheduled for June 12, and the Justice Department has until Friday to file its opposing views.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, posted on social media that Congress should create its own version of the Anti-Weaponization Fund. His post was shared by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who wrote, “we’re on it.” Mr. Woodward later deleted the post.
Mr. Blanche didn’t explain why the Justice Department was canceling the nearly $1.8 billion fund it announced last month, but many lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans alike — criticized it as a bad use of taxpayer dollars.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told the reporters the administration’s best path forward is a new course entirely.
“The best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves,” said Mr. Thune, South Dakota Republican.
