The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is not dead, according to the president.
Donald Trump told the New York Post podcast Pod Force One that his administration had not dropped the $1.8 billion slush fund, putting him at odds with what his officials told Congress.
“No. A court ruled against it. But just so you understand, these are people that’ve been decimated. These are people who have lost their lives over nonsense,” Trump said in an interview published Wednesday morning. “These were many great people, and I gave them pardons, and I’m very proud to have given them pardons. And I think they should be reimbursed for a crooked government.”
The honeypot payments were pitched as reparations, paid for by U.S. taxpayers through the Department of Justice, to virtually any right-winger who felt targeted by the previous presidential administration.
Hundreds of Trump’s MAGA-aligned allies have already lined up for their slice of the pie. They include MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and Republican lawmakers. A slew of pardoned January 6ers are also in the queue, including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, a sex offender who bear-sprayed cops, and a convicted child molester who told his victims he would give them money from a Trump payout in exchange for their silence.
But Trump’s ongoing affinity for the payouts defies his administration’s latest position on the DOJ slush fund. As Trump’s interview was being published, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday that the federal financial hub intended to comply with a DOJ directive to shutter the fund.
The evening before, during a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said that the fund was dead in the water and that his agency would not “ever” move forward with the payments.
The fund was the result of an unprecedented deal that Trump made with himself after he dropped his waning $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. The arrangement included a curious addendum from Blanche, immunizing Trump from further federal prosecution. The government of the United States, Blanche wrote, would be “forever barred and precluded” from pursuing “any and all claims” against Trump, his family, or his business.
The idea of the fund fell apart following weeks of backlash, numerous lawsuits, and opposition from Republican lawmakers who felt the issue had gummed up party efforts to pass a reconciliation bill.