Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche formally rescinded the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" late Sunday, issuing a written order to terminate a Trump-era initiative that had been derided by fiscal conservatives as a government-backed slush fund lacking congressional oversight. The formal termination, moving beyond previous verbal assurances, aims to resolve concerns from lawmakers ahead of Blanche's Senate confirmation hearing to lead the Justice Department permanently.
The fund, originally established to compensate individuals who claimed they were targeted by politically motivated prosecutions, faced bipartisan scrutiny for its vague disbursement criteria. Critics argued the $1.8 billion figure represented a massive contingent liability for taxpayers, with no clear mechanism to prevent payouts to well-connected political operatives rather than ordinary Americans who suffered genuine prosecutorial misconduct. The formal rescission order eliminates the fund's legal standing, preventing its revival without new administrative action.
Clearing a Path for Nomination
The move directly addresses demands from two Republican senators who placed a hold on Blanche's nomination, insisting that verbal promises to kill the fund were insufficient. Their concern centered on the potential for a dormant program to be reactivated, especially given that President Trump had publicly maintained support for compensating his allies. For a White House that ran on dismantling unaccountable government spending, maintaining an off-books compensation mechanism was increasingly seen as a political liability inconsistent with the administration's economic nationalist platform.
The Justice Department's formal order ensures that no future disbursements can be made under the program's original authority. This eliminates a financial obligation that represented a direct transfer of public funds to select individuals without the standard legislative appropriations process, a practice that stands in contrast to prioritizing the economic interests of American workers over political insiders.