Trump suggests he hasn’t dropped the ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

By Aileen Graef, Sarah Ferris, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump suggested that he has not dropped the administration’s “anti-weaponization” fund, saying in an interview released Wednesday that people “should be reimbursed.”

“No, a court ruled against (the fund),” Trump said when asked if he had dropped the controversial effort on the New York Post’s podcast “Pod Force One with Miranda Devine.” The interview was taped on Tuesday.

That same day, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told lawmakers that the Justice Department would not move forward with the fund.

But Trump argues in the podcast interview that people who he claims were targeted by a “crooked government” deserve compensation. “And these were many great people. And I gave them pardons. I’m very proud to have given them pardons. And I think they should be reimbursed for a crooked government,” he said.

It’s unclear how Trump’s comments comport with Blanche’s — and whether the administration’s messaging will allay GOP lawmakers’ concerns about the fund.

Blanche’s comments marked the first time an administration official definitively said the fund is being abandoned. The Justice Department’s about-face came amid fierce pushback from Republicans on Capitol Hill.

Many GOP senators said earlier this week that they could not move ahead with immigration enforcement funding until they knew the “anti-weaponization fund” was dead.

But on Tuesday night, after Blanche’s comments, Senate GOP leaders were pressing for a vote as soon as Wednesday to advance the $70 billion bill to fund the president’s immigration priorities.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday morning that he believes Blanche’s comments about the fund were “extremely helpful” toward resolving his members’ anger — and ultimately advancing the big GOP immigration funding bill later Wednesday. But it’s still too early to tell for sure.

“I think that most of our members feel pretty satisfied with his comments” but is not yet certain if there are four Republicans still willing to block the GOP immigration bill over DOJ fund concerns. “Whether they are enough with some of our members, we’ll find out.”

Thune said he is “hopeful” to take the next step later today — teeing up a so-called vote-a-rama to pass the immigration money without Democratic votes.

A Republican aide on Wednesday downplayed the notion that Trump’s comments on the podcast would impact Congress.

“I don’t feel concerned about what he said,” the aide said. “Don’t love it, but him saying a court ruled against it is about as close to ‘yes I’m dropping it’ as we will get.”

The aide added that Blanche “was very clear” during the hearing.

“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche told a House Appropriations subcommittee.

“Not moving forward, ever?” asked Democratic Rep. Grace Meng. “Correct,” Blanche said.

In a post on X, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said he appreciated Blanche’s statement but proposed creating “a weaponization fund that will be available to those who can prove their claim against the federal government through the Federal Tort Claims Act.”

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, Jr. responded to Graham’s post saying, “We’re on it.” The post included no explanation and was later deleted.

Last week, a federal judge in Virginia had temporarily blocked the administration from taking steps to set up the fund and barred it from releasing any money from it.

But that ruling was highly technical; it didn’t address the legality of the program but was instead intended to get the court time to review a lawsuit seeking to kill the program in full.

During the podcast interview, Trump also praised the acting attorney general, who replaced Pam Bondi in April, saying that Blanche is “doing a very good job” at DOJ.

When asked if he would try to install Blanche permanently in the attorney general role, Trump said he would.

This story has been updated with additional information.

CNN’s Devan Cole, Manu Raju, Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand and Ted Barrett contributed to this report.

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