Republican lawmakers are expressing skepticism about the Justice Department’s creation of a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that would allow individuals to be compensated if they believe they have been unfairly targeted by the federal government.
The DOJ unveiled the fund on Monday as part of a settlement for President Donald Trump to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service related to the leak of his tax returns in 2019. Democrats were quick to express outrage, while some Republicans said they were unsure how they feel about it.
“I’m just gonna say I don’t have a lot of information,” Sen. John Curtis, R-Utah, told the Deseret News. “But I will say: On first blush, it doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Tuesday that he is “not a big fan” of the fund’s creation, noting it will likely be subject to scrutiny by congressional appropriators.
“I’m not sure exactly how they intend to use it,” Thune said. “But yeah, I don’t see a purpose for that.”
Even some of Trump’s staunchest allies have raised their eyebrows, telling reporters they need more information.
“Conceptually, I understand what he’s trying to do, but I don’t know,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who once had his phone data subpoenaed by the Justice Department during the Biden administration, said on Tuesday. “I think we need to ask more questions.”
But Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, compared the fund to a $2 million settlement reached between the DOJ and former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, who sued the first Trump administration for releasing their text messages, alleging it violated the federal Privacy Act.
That settlement was made in 2024 under the Biden administration.
“This has happened before in a Democrat administration, so I’m not sure you should be surprised that there’s justice for people that have had the government weaponized against them,” Grassley said.
Acting AG Todd Blanche responds to questions about DOJ fund
Members of both parties pressed acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about the fund during a Senate hearing on Tuesday, where he told lawmakers it would be up to the newly created commission to decide who qualifies for compensation.
However, Blanche did not rule out that rioters who were convicted in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol may qualify, eliciting criticism from Democrats.
“This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump at DOJ to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.
