{"id":301,"date":"2026-06-02T23:36:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=301"},"modified":"2026-06-02T23:36:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T23:36:48","slug":"trump-administration-dumps-1-77b-anti-weaponization-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=301","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration dumps $1.77B \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 The Trump administration has scrapped plans to use nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer dollars to pay people who believe they were wrongly prosecuted by the Justice Department \u2014 a proposal that halted work on legislation to fund immigration and deportation activities.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=299\">NC House lawmakers fast-track data center regulation bill<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified Tuesday before a House committee the DOJ will no longer move forward with those plans shortly after Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said the administration had reversed course.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>That decision could clear the way for the Senate to debate a roughly $70 billion package meant to fund immigration and deportation for the rest of President Donald Trump\u2019s term.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think his statements are going to be very definitive, very clear and create the certainty that I hope all of our members, and House members need as well, in order for us to proceed on the reconciliation bill,\u201d Thune said, referring to Blanche. \u201cBut I\u2019m not guaranteeing that happens yet.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Whatley backs Trump\u2019s $1.8B \u2018anti-weaponization fund\u2019 despite GOP revolt on Capitol Hill<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"wvZNcVMRKd\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"282\" marginheight=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" scrolling=\"no\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/ncnewsline.com\/2026\/05\/22\/whatley-backs-trumps-1-8b-anti-weaponization-fund-despite-gop-revolt-on-capitol-hill\/embed\/#?secret=ySrq3Mxvwe#?secret=wvZNcVMRKd\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"\u201cWhatley backs Trump\u2019s $1.8B \u2018anti-weaponization fund\u2019 despite GOP revolt on Capitol Hill\u201d \u2014 NC Newsline\" width=\"500\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Blanche confirmed Thune\u2019s statements when he testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee in the afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not moving forward with the fund, period,\u201d Blanche said when pressed by the subcommittee\u2019s top Democrat, Rep. Grace Meng of New York.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou and Associate Attorney General Woodward signed earlier documents regarding the settlement and this fund, would both of you now sign and release documents reversing the DOJ position on the fund?\u201d Meng asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not moving forward with the fund. I\u2019m not sure what that means to sign documents reversing. There\u2019s nothing to reverse,\u201d Blanche replied.<\/p>\n<p>The DOJ\u00a0posted on social media this week that it plans to abide by a\u00a0temporary court ruling that blocked distribution of the funds, but Republican lawmakers said that wasn\u2019t enough to end the impasse it created.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department announced the creation of the fund\u00a0last month as part of a legal settlement between Trump and the IRS over leaked copies of his returns during Trump\u2019s first term. The settlement included provisions that precluded future IRS investigations into Trump and his family.<\/p>\n<h4>Senate Republicans weigh in<\/h4>\n<p>Thune said GOP senators had a \u201cquite robust conversation\u201d during a closed-door lunch about the DOJ fund and whether to move forward with their immigration and deportation package.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>North Dakota Sen. John Hoeven said after that meeting it\u2019s up to GOP leaders to determine whether there are enough votes to move forward with the immigration package.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the next step is for our whip team to find out where everybody\u2019s at based on the administration\u2019s indication that they\u2019re not going to move forward with the fund,\u201d Hoeven said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy said there is a \u201cchance\u201d that Republicans could begin a marathon amendment voting session on the immigration bill as soon as Wednesday, if Blanche\u2019s testimony alleviates concerns created by the DOJ fund.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=298\">States face tight timeline as feds unveil new Medicaid work requirement rules<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Montana Sen. Steve Daines, however, said he believes it\u2019s \u201cunlikely\u201d that process begins this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis said earlier in the day, before the lunch, that he wouldn\u2019t accept taxpayer dollars going toward people who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo provide restitution to somebody who assaulted a police officer and pled guilty to it. I mean, man, I\u2019ve seen some crazy stuff before, but that\u2019s right up there with crazy,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis said he needs to know \u201cif it\u2019s dead or nearly dead.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford said he wants clarification from the White House about the settlement fund in light of the court\u2019s ruling.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He added that Republicans are waiting to see if \u201cthe court case set aside both the settlement fund and the audits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe need clarification for what it is and isn\u2019t, because the White House already said \u2018we agree, we don\u2019t like it, but we agree with the courts,\u2019\u201d Lankford said. \u201cWhat does that mean?\u201d<\/p>\n<h4>Amendment to ban fund<\/h4>\n<p>Democrats have also\u00a0criticized Trump and those in his administration over the fund, vowing to block it in law.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said during an afternoon press conference that promises from Trump and administration officials are \u201cworthless.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTrump sued his own government, had his own Justice Department settle the case and is now trying to use taxpayer dollars to pay off his MAGA allies, billionaire buddies and cop-beating insurrectionists,\u201d Schumer said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd let\u2019s be clear, Trump has not killed this slush fund,\u201d he added. \u201cHe has not revoked the special tax immunity he gave himself and his family. He has not ended the corruption. He hit a temporary roadblock. That\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schumer said the first amendment he would offer during debate on Republicans\u2019 immigration and deportation bill would \u201cban Trump\u2019s slush fund permanently and revoke his family\u2019s free rein to commit tax fraud forever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/northcarolinamovingjournal.com\/?p=296\">NC bill would steer $10 million to Khan Academy for AI tool of debatable value<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Ashley Murray contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday the Trump administration has rescinded its plan to use a nearly $1.8 billion fund to pay people who believe they were wrongly prosecuted by the Justice Department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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