Blanche keeps $1.776 billion DOJ compensation fund shut down
What's next: The attorney general left open other ways to compensate people Trump calls victims of Biden-era DOJ "weaponization."
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department's $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund remains terminated, even as he signaled the administration could pursue other ways to compensate people President Donald Trump says were wrongly targeted under President Joe Biden. Blanche made the remarks Wednesday at his first news conference since winning Senate confirmation. He said he had rescinded the order creating the fund and that it no longer exists. Trump had said earlier this week that Blanche would decide the fund's future. The proposal, created in May, drew bipartisan criticism because it was tied to Trump dropping multibillion-dollar claims against the IRS and civil claims linked to the Russia inquiry and the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search.