Donald Trump publicly defended his administration's short-lived "anti-weaponization" fund as a "great idea" and refused to rule out using it to pay Capitol rioters who attacked police — contradicting the Friday DOJ court filing in which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund "will not" continue. Trump said "I'd pay the kind of money they deserve" when pressed on January 6 defendants, the Guardian reported. The president's "great idea" defence landed the same day DOJ told the court the disbursement mechanism was dead, per The Hill's filing.
What did Trump actually say? "So me, personally, I think it was a great idea," Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press," The Hill reported. The line directly contradicts the wind-down framing Blanche delivered 48 hours earlier and that Senate Republicans accepted as cover for moving the broader $70bn ICE funding package.
Did he back paying Capitol rioters? Trump declined to rule out using the fund to compensate January 6 defendants who attacked police, telling the interviewer "I'd pay the kind of money they deserve," the Guardian reported. The framing reopens the politically-toxic question that drove Mike Pence's "deeply offensive" rebuke and the Republican-side Senate revolt last week.
Where does this leave DOJ? Blanche told a federal court Friday the fund "will not" continue, asking the court to reject a challenge brought by a former federal prosecutor. The Trump public reversal puts the acting AG in the position of having committed in writing to an outcome the president has publicly disowned within 48 hours.
What's the political damage? Senate Republicans had accepted the fund wind-down as the political cost of preserving the $70bn ICE funding package. The "great idea" defence puts the chamber in the awkward position of having pulled away from a presidential priority their president has now publicly reaffirmed.
What happens next? The DOJ court filing remains in place and is a representation the department cannot easily walk back without a fresh filing, the Guardian reported. Whether Trump directs Blanche to revisit it, or instead pivots to settlement-route payouts via the Federal Tort Claims Act, is the open question.
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
