Trump DOJ fund gets pushback in Congress
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies at a Senate Appropriations Committee, Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on May 19, 2026, at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC.
Nathan Posner | Anatolia | Getty Images
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche meets with Republican senators Thursday morning. Ministry of JusticeThe US’s controversial “law” fund, as reactions grow in Congress over the idea of paying compensation to people who attacked police during the US Capitol riot in 2021.
“I think it’s foolish to stand on some legs,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. Spectrum News in an interview about a $1.8 billion fund created to resolve an unrelated lawsuit by President Donald Trump against the Internal Revenue Service.
The fund will purportedly pay compensation to those who claim they were victims of prosecutorial overreach during the Biden administration, or worse, victims of the Justice Department; this could include hundreds of people convicted or charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
“Will this always put us in a position where your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, pleaded guilty, was convicted, was pardoned, and now we’re going to make them pay for it?” Tillis said.
“This is ridiculous,” he added. “The American people will reject this immediately.”
U.S. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) speaks to reporters after the weekly Senate Republican caucus policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on January 28, 2026 in Washington, DC, USA.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
Blanche’s meeting with GOP senators, D-Md. It comes a day after Rep. Jamie Raskin introduced a bill that would ban federal money from being used for the Justice Department. “Fund for Combating Armament” After two police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 filed a lawsuit to have the fund declared illegal.
Democrats in Congress have called the fund a corrupt “slush fund.”
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-Ore.) and Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) introduced legislation that would impose a 100% tax on all payments from the fund.
“Right now we want to hear from the attorney general his view on this and what he plans to do with it,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R.S.D.) told reporters Thursday.
“But obviously our members have very legitimate questions about this,” Thune said, adding that his group has been having conversations about “how we can make sure this is properly fenced.”
One Interview with CNN On Wednesday, Blanche said the commissioners appointed to manage the fund would be responsible for evaluating plaintiffs’ conduct in applications for compensation.
“One of the factors that the commissioners have to consider is what the plaintiff did, that is, the plaintiff’s behavior,” Blanche told CNN. “The plaintiff will have to say, ‘I assaulted a police officer and I want money.'”
“Whether the members of the commission will give money to that person, the plaintiff, is up to them,” the attorney general said. he said. “But this is one of the factors they need to take into account.
Blanche will appoint all five commissioners of the fund.
Trump’s former criminal defense attorney, Blanche, also said the president “is not in favor of attacking law enforcement.”
Blanche’s interview came after several Senate Republicans questioned the logic of the fund.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said MS NOW He did not see “any legal precedent” for the fund.
“People are interested in making a living for themselves, not creating a slush fund without legal precedent,” Cassidy said.
According to MS NOW, Thune said he was “not a big fan” of the fund idea.
“I don’t see a purpose for this,” he said.
“The announcement of this slush fund was staggeringly corrupt, even by Trump’s lowest standards,” Wyden said in a statement Thursday.
This is developing news. Check back for updates.
