Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has been cornered on Donald Trump’s divisive $1.8 billion slush fund.
The Trump administration announced the “anti-weaponization fund” this week, created for individuals who believe they have been unfairly targeted by politically motivated investigations under previous administrations.
The slush fund was established as part of a Justice Department settlement after Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leaking of his tax records.
The announcement immediately faced bipartisan backlash, with Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune saying he did not see “a purpose” for the fund.
Meanwhile, two police officers who defended the Capitol that day have filed a lawsuit challenging the plan’s constitutionality. Former Capitol police officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan police officer Daniel Hodges called it a “slush fund to finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence” in Trump’s name.
Speaking on CNN on Wednesday, Blanche defended the fund, insisting it was legal and claiming of Americans, “I think they want their tax dollars spent on things like that.”
“If you’re just upset, you’re not getting a dime,” Blanche said. “On the other hand, I think if you said to the American taxpayer that there is a horrible wrong committed by your government and you can apply, and you can have your lawyer’s fees back, you can be compensated for what you lost financially, what American would say ‘Oh my gosh, that’s terrible?’”
Blanche said he disagreed with the idea a taxpayer would be “indignant” about “a victim of weaponization” who may have lost their job, or “had their life turned upside down in away that was not appropriate.”
“If it was appropriate, there should be no compensation,” he added. “And that’s why we have five commissioners who will take a look at it. But I do not think the American people have issues with that. To the contrary, I do think they want their tax dollars spent on things like that.”
Blanche also called out “fake outrage” generated because of “a handful of folks who might apply.”
News of MAGA figureheads, like former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and election-denier Mike Lindell saying they will make claims has riled Trump critics. A number of Jan. 6 rioters told CNN on Wednesday they would be making a claim.
Brandon Fellows, a convicted Capitol rioter pardoned by Trump, said he wanted $30 million from the fund. “$21.5 million is for the wrongful imprisonment,” Fellows said.
Another pardoned rioter, Rachel Powell, claimed, “We endured a lot. Our lives are still not the same. I don’t know what kind of price you can put on that.” Powell was seen repeatedly ramming a window of the Capitol building with a cylindrical object. Powell was “one of the first rioters to break through onto Capitol grounds near the Peace Circle,” a 2023 DOJ statement claimed.
Blanche insisted the behavior of Jan. 6 rioters attempting to access the fund will be taken into account by commissioners who have yet to be installed to assess payouts. However the first application for the board is already raising eyebrows.
“One of the factors the commissioners have to consider is what the claimant did—the claimant’s conduct, okay?,” Blanche told Paula Reid on CNN on Wednesday.
Citing a “hypothetical” question about a Jan. 6 rioter convicted of assaulting a police officer being able to access Trump’s fund, Blanche said, “The claimant would have to say, ‘I assaulted a cop and I want money.’ So whether the commissioners will give that person money, that claimant, it’s up to them, but that’s one of the factors they have to consider.”
Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s personal criminal defense attorney before joining the DOJ, insisted the president “does not stand for assaulting law enforcement.”
“Just to be clear, people that hurt police get money all the time, okay?,” Blanche said, pointing out citizens who believe their rights have been “violated” can already sue all levels of government.
“It’s abhorrent to ever touch a law enforcement officer, which is why anytime anybody does that, and it’s a federal officer, we’ll prosecute them,” Blanche added. “But that’s a completely different question with whether an individual is allowed to apply for a claim, whether they’ll get a claim...it depends.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who was personally slammed by Trump on Wednesday, told Kaitlan Collins he does not support the president’s billion-dollar slush fund, especially in a cost-of-living crisis.
Fitzpatrick said the fact that “over half of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck” should be at the forefront of “every dime” spent by House and Senate members.
“So for that and many other reasons, I am completely objecting to this and I’m going to do everything I can to fight it,” Fitzpatrick said on CNN on Wednesday.
Fitzpatrick said he sent a letter to Blanche on Wednesday posing “some very basic questions.”
“He‘s got a June 1st deadline to get me the answers of where this money is coming from,” Fitzpatrick said.
“We want to know what account that money currently resides in, where is he pulling it from? What authority they have to do this. We’ll give them a chance to answer but this is a debate that needs to be had and will be had on the floor of the House and it will be voted on.”
He added, “This is not a unilateral decision, if you’re dealing with appropriated money it’s gotta come through us.”
