Blanche is set to return to Capitol Hill as Trump reconsiders plans for his $1.8 billion fund[html]
Acting U.S. attorney general Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department, May 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)2026-06-02T11:02:19Z
WASHINGTON (AP) — data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-blanche-fbi-89a2334ef3ca9ac1398975d6a3528bff">Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is set to return to Capitol Hill on Tuesday after the Trump administration signaled it was pausing contentious plans to move forward with data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-lawsuit-irs-leak-3729de38770b558be01712a143437bf8">a nearly $1.8 billion fund that could compensate allies of President Donald Trump who believe they have been unjustly investigated and prosecuted.
The hearing before the House Appropriations Committee was scheduled for discussion of the Justice Department’s budget, but lawmakers will almost certainly focus their questioning on the creation of a fund that has provoked outrage over the mere possibility that data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/trump-capitol-riot-settlement-fund-payouts-crimes-0a46024bd86b84d12ede1c2e34bb8507">violent pro-Trump rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could be eligible for payouts.
The Republican president is now reconsidering whether to move forward with the fund established to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, a person familiar with his thinking said on Monday, in the face of Republican backlash and legal setbacks. The Justice Department also said Monday it would comply with a Virginia court temporarily blocking the administration’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” effectively agreeing to pause the plan for at least two weeks.
Another judge in Florida raised the prospect of reopening the IRS lawsuit because of “grievous allegations” of improper dealing made against the administration by settlement critics.
The Trump administration has defended the fund as an appropriate measure to make up for what officials insist was a weaponized Justice Department during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, a claim the Biden administration strongly denied. Though some Trump supporters, including participants in the Capitol riot, have celebrated the announcement, the reaction among Republicans in Congress has been decidedly more hostile, forcing Blanche to try to assuage a GOP constituency that generally operates in close alignment with the administration.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to a reporter outside the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to a reporter outside the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
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The furor has especially complicated matters in the Senate, where Republicans data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/congress-billion-ballroom-trump-funding-bill-republicans-d0b0d2ee59a95f6199d80998ab89d7e4">defiantly left town 10 days ago without passing legislation to fund Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans who returned to Washington on Monday said they won’t have the votes to pass the Homeland Security spending bill until the White House works with them to place parameters on the fund. Many have pushed the administration to impose limits or scrap the idea altogether.
At a Senate budget hearing last month, data-gtm-enhancement-style="LinkEnhancementA" href="https://apnews.com/article/todd-blanche-justice-department-congress-irs-fund-1b8c7130c12253af161367b701d914b7">Blanche refused to rule out the possibility that those who carried out violence on Jan. 6 could be eligible for payouts and has repeatedly said in interviews that anyone who feels persecuted by the criminal justice system is free to apply. Payouts will be decided by a five-member commission appointed by Blanche.
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations subcommittee hearing to address the Trump administration’s budget request for the Justice Department, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
