President Donald Trump on Sunday defended his $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and urged Congressional leaders to approve the controversial settlement between him and the IRS.
In a pre-recorded interview that aired on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” for NBC, Trump said people were “hurt so badly by radical left lunatics” under the Biden administration and that he would pay those people what they “deserve” if it were up to him.
“People have been destroyed. Lives have been destroyed. Many suicides, think of it. People have committed suicide because a bunch of thugs went after them,” Trump told host Kristen Welker. “So me, personally, I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans. You have to get it approved. If they get it approved, that's great. If they don't get it approved, I'd be disappointed.”
The fund, which the Justice Department established last month, is part of an agreement between the DOJ, the IRS and Trump meant to settle Trump’s January 2026 lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his and the Trump Organization's tax returns and other claims. People who believe they were targeted for prosecution for political purposes, including by the Biden administration DOJ, were to be able to apply for payouts.
But a federal judge in Virginia temporarily blockedany payouts or other work to establish the fund as other legal challenges against it continue to make their way through court.
The fund has received bipartisan pushback, with lawmakers labeling it a “slush fund” to pay Trump’s allies — including those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump pardoned those people on his first day back in office.
Welker asked Trump if he believes anyone who attacked police officers on Jan. 6 should get taxpayer money.
“I wouldn't be inclined to say so, but I have to see it,” Trump replied. “I can tell you this: 97 percent of those people, you look at them, the FBI or whoever it was, cause you had a lot of crooked cops, you had dirty cops.”
Following the judge’s ruling last month, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the administration was stepping back from the fund.
“We’re not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche told the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees funding for the Department of Justice.
Still, Senate Republicans last week beat back attempts to quash the fund, passing a $70 billion immigration bill that had initially stalled without language killing the fund.
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