Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday defended the Justice Department’s nearly $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as lawmakers from both parties raised alarms about the program, which could ultimately compensate hundreds of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot defendants and other allies of President Donald Trump.
During a contentious Senate appropriations hearing that was intended to focus on the DOJ’s proposed $40.8 billion fiscal 2027 budget request, a 13% increase from last year, Blanche repeatedly insisted the weaponization fund was not designed solely for Trump supporters and argued that Democrats criticizing it as a “slush fund” were effectively acknowledging Republicans had been disproportionately targeted during the Biden administration.
Acting AG Todd Blanche on new $1.8B "anti-weaponization" fund: "This is unusual. That is true. But it is not unprecedented, and it was done to address… years of weaponization…It's not limited to the Biden weaponization. It's not limited…to January 6th, or to Jack Smith." pic.twitter.com/tyePql2U1o— CSPAN (@cspan) May 19, 2026
“I think it’s telling that everybody on the Left and everybody in the media immediately says it’s a slush fund for President Trump’s friends,” Blanche said. “If anything else, that’s an outright admission that they know that the people that really had this Department of Justice weaponized against them were President Trump and his friends.”
