{"id":131500,"date":"2026-06-02T14:45:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T20:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/blanche-is-set-to-return-to-capitol-hill-as-trump-reconsiders-plans-for-his-1-8-billion-fund\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T15:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T21:36:26","slug":"blanche-says-trump-administration-is-scrapping-1-8b-fund-meant-to-compensate-presidents-allies-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/blanche-says-trump-administration-is-scrapping-1-8b-fund-meant-to-compensate-presidents-allies-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Blanche says Trump administration is scrapping $1.8B fund meant to compensate president’s allies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"FILE
FILE – Acting U.S. attorney general Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department, May 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the Trump administration is scrapping plans to create a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the Republican president after widespread political backlash and setbacks in the courts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not moving forward with the fund, period,\u201d Blanche said.<\/p>\n

Blanche\u2019s comments during a House committee hearing came in response to mounting pressure from Republicans for reassurances that the Justice Department\u2019s plans were off the table before they would move forward with legislation funding President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration had previously defended the fund as an appropriate measure make up for what officials insist was a weaponized Justice Department during President Joe Biden\u2019s Democratic administration, a claim the Biden administration strongly denied.<\/p>\n

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP\u2019s earlier story follows below.<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Democrats confronted acting Attorney General Todd Blanche<\/a> on Tuesday about a nearly $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of President Donald Trump<\/a> even as the Trump administration has signaled that it was pausing plans to move forward with the contentious program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration has engaged in what are perhaps the most brazen acts of flagrant corruption I\u2019ve ever seen,\u201d said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut. \u201cAnd you are at the center of many of them, Mr. Blanche.\u201d<\/p>\n

She called it a \u201ccorrupt payout scheme for the president and his allies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee was scheduled for discussion of the Justice Department’s budget, but lawmakers were ready to focus their questioning on the creation of a fund that has provoked outrage over the mere possibility that violent pro-Trump rioters<\/a> who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, could be eligible for payouts.<\/p>\n

The Republican president is now reconsidering whether to move forward with the fund established to resolve his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns, according to a person familiar with the matter, in the face of Republican backlash and legal setbacks. The person insisted on anonymity to discuss the president\u2019s thinking on Monday. The Justice Department also said Monday it would comply with a Virginia court temporarily blocking the administration’s \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund,\u201d effectively agreeing to pause the plan for at least two weeks.<\/p>\n

Another judge in Florida raised the prospect of reopening the IRS lawsuit because of \u201cgrievous allegations\u201d of improper dealing made against the administration by settlement critics.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration has defended the fund as an appropriate measure to make up for what officials insist was a weaponized Justice Department during President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, a claim the Biden administration strongly denied. Though some Trump supporters, including participants in the Capitol riot, have celebrated the announcement, the reaction among Republicans in Congress has been decidedly more hostile, forcing Blanche to try to assuage a GOP constituency that generally operates in close alignment with the administration.<\/p>\n

The furor has especially complicated matters in the Senate, where Republicans defiantly left town 10 days ago<\/a> without passing legislation to fund Trump\u2019s immigration enforcement agencies. Republicans who returned to Washington on Monday said they won\u2019t have the votes to pass the Homeland Security spending bill until the White House works with them to place parameters on the fund. Many have pushed the administration to impose limits or scrap the idea altogether.<\/p>\n

At a Senate budget hearing last month, Blanche refused to rule out the possibility<\/a> that those who carried out violence on Jan. 6 could be eligible for payouts and has repeatedly said in interviews that anyone who feels persecuted by the criminal justice system is free to apply. Payouts will be decided by a five-member commission appointed by Blanche.<\/p>\n

But he has apparently struck a more conciliatory tone in private when confronted by Republican anger.<\/p>\n

Blanche encountered a groundswell of opposition last month at a tense private meeting with GOP senators<\/a>, with more than half raising concerns, including by shouting at the Justice Department’s top official, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said in a recent episode of his podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were fireworks at an epic level \u2014 and I’ve got to say, it’s one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate,” Cruz said.<\/p>\n

Behind closed doors, Blanche was \u201cadamant\u201d that no one who assaulted police at the Capitol would receive compensation, according to Cruz.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said not just \u2018no,\u2019 but \u2018hell no,\u2019\u201d the senator recalled.<\/p>\n

\"Acting
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche speaks to a reporter outside the White House, Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Acting
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche arrives for a closed-door meeting with Republican senators who are expected to abandon a proposal for $1 billion in security money for the White House complex and President Donald Trump's ballroom after it has failed to win enough party support, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span>(AP Photo\/J. Scott Applewhite)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Acting
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations subcommittee hearing to address the Trump administration's budget request for the Justice Department, Tuesday, May 19, 2026, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Mariam Zuhaib)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo\/Gabriela Passos, File)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Gabriela Passos, File)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– Acting U.S. attorney general Todd Blanche speaks during a news conference at the Justice Department, May 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)(AP Photo\/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File) WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the Trump administration is scrapping plans to create a $1.8 billion fund meant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":131501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5734],"tags":[],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-131500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-associated-press"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131500"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131594,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131500\/revisions\/131594"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131500"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=131500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}