President Donald Trump is pausing plans for the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “weaponization” fund amid opposition from Republicans in Congress, at least for two weeks.
The Justice Department announced the move Monday after Trump met with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
“The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people,” the DOJ wrote in a statement. “This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling.”
Earlier in the day, Axios reported that the president planned to drop all immediate plans to move forward with the fund. A senior Trump administration official characterized that report as accurate but noted that the president reserves the right to change strategies.
