Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told Congress on Tuesday the Department of Justice would end its nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund a little more than two weeks after its inception, following legal setbacks and an uproar from lawmakers in both parties.
“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche testified before the House Appropriations Committee.
The Justice Department established the fund on May 18 to resolve a $10 billion lawsuit President Donald Trump and his sons brought against the IRS over the leak of their tax returns.
It was designed to compensate people who claimed to have been unfairly targeted by federal authorities – those Blanche previously described as “victims of lawfare and weaponization.” A five-member commission, appointed by Blanche, was set to oversee the fund, with Trump holding the power to remove any of them.
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During questioning by Rep. Grace Meng (D-New York), Blanche said that the reasons for the fund “remained as important as they were before,” but that the Justice Department would not take any further steps to create it.
“Not moving forward ever?” Meng asked.
“Correct,” Blanche said, adding that no commissioners had been named and that there were “no claims made yet.”
Meng asked if administration officials intended to sign and release documents reversing the creation of the fund.
“There’s nothing to reverse,” Blanche said.
Critics of the fund may still not be satisfied by Blanche’s assurances.
Responding to Blanche’s testimony on Tuesday, Democracy Forward President Skye Perryman tweeted: “If you can say it on TV, you should say it in court.” Perryman’s group represents several plaintiffs who sued in federal court to block the program.
Blanche’s remarks capped two weeks of mounting questions 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.
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 late last month to vote on a key funding package for immigration enforcement after senators voiced concerns about the fund.
On Friday, a federal judge in Virginia temporarily halted work on the fund, barring officials from disbursing any money or taking any further steps to set it up. A hearing in the case is scheduled for June 12.
Democracy Forward had filed a lawsuit arguing the fund created an unconstitutional and “politically discriminatory” claims process. The plaintiffs include former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Floyd, who prosecuted several Jan. 6 cases.
The Justice Department said Monday that it would comply with the judge’s order, but some Senate Republicans sought a more explicit guarantee from the administration that the fund would not move forward.
Separately, on Friday a federal judge in Florida ordered Trump to respond to what she called “grievous allegations” that the deal to resolve Trump’s IRS lawsuit was “premised on deception.” 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.
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.
“We now need to prove wrongdoing,” Ticktin said in an interview. “We would have had to prove it anyway but not to the same extent. Now we’re in front of judges in the District of Columbia, some of whom aren’t going to like us.”
A White House spokesperson did not comment on Blanche’s remarks, and referred questions about litigation over the fund to a social media post Monday from the Justice Department disagreeing with the Virginia judge’s ruling halting the fund.
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