US Politics
Senate leader Thune splits with Trump over $1.776B DOJ weaponization ‘slush fund’ in first sign of major party rift
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune criticized the notion of President Donald Trump securing, via his Department of Justice, a $1.7 billion fund to pay people “unfairly” investigated by Democrats.
The top Republican in the Senate spoke to reporters on Tuesday as he walked into the Capitol when he was asked about creation of the new “anti-weaponization fund.”
“Yeah, not a big fan,” Thune said in response to a question from The Independent. “And I’m not sure exactly how they intend to use it, but my understanding is that was just announced. But yeah, I don’t see a purpose for that.”
The remarks come the same days as Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appeared on Capitol Hill to testify about the Department of Justice’s budget the day. He faced grilling from Democrats about the so-called anti-weaponization fund, during which he also would not say whether violent Jan. 6 Capitol rioters could be paid from it.
Blanche, who took over Attorney General Pam Bondi last month, announced the fund on Monday to settle a $10 billion lawsuit that Trump, his family and real estate and hotel company had filed against the Internal Revenue Service after a contractor leaked his tax returns to The New York Times.
The fund will be administered by a five-person committee commission that Blanche, a former defense counsel for the president, will nominate. One member will be chosen in consultation with Congress.
The fund will have the authority to “issue formal apologies and monetary relief owed to claimants” used from the Department of Justice’s judgment fund. The fund is a permanent appropriation that allows the Department of Justice to settle litigation and pay judgments and does not require authorization from Congress.
“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Blanche said on Monday.
On Capitol Hill, Blanche said that the move is not unprecedented and added that it was not only related to investigations by the Biden administration or for people who perpetrated crimines on January 6.
“It’s not limited to Republicans,” he said. “There’s no limitation on the claims.”
During his testimony, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, asked how the commission that oversees the fund would determine whether future claims from the fund are eligible to paid out of it.
“What’s the legal basis for those decisions?” Collins asked. Blanche responded by saying that commissioners will receive informaton that is voluntary and the commission can either set up an apology or awarding financial compensation.
“It won’t be reviewed by me, it won’t reviewed by others in the administration, it will be reviewed by the five commissioners,” he said.
Collins also asked if information related the claims would be publicly reported. Blanche responded by saying there would be accountability.
“There’s a process that you all will get information,” he said. “I very anticipate that the claims that are awarded, the basis and the amount, will be made public along the way.”
But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said he was not bothered by it, pointing out how former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page had previously received payments.
“There’s no, there’s no political test of who can qualify or make application, and I think the bottom line of it is,” Grassley told The Independent. “If there’s questions, we’re going to be able to discuss it directly when we have the Attorney General before our committee for our usual oversight.”
But Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted to convict Trump for his actions on January, told reporters he did not see any legal precedent for the fund.
“We are a nation of laws, you can’t just make up things whole piece,” he told reporters on Monday. “I just came off the campaign trail, people are concerned about making their own ends meet, not about putting a slush fund together without a legal precedent.”
Cassidy failed to clear the runoff for the Republican primary for Senate on Saturday after Trump endorsed Rep. Julia Letlow to replace him. She and John Fleming will face off in the runoff.
The move is part of a larger trend of Trump seeking retribution against institutions he believed wronged him during his first term as president and during his time outside of the White House.
-Andrew Feinberg contributed reporting
