Justice Department kills Trump's $1.8 billion political fund
Why it matters: Republicans threatened to sink a major immigration bill unless the administration dropped the plan.
The Justice Department scrapped President Donald Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponisation” fund after a backlash from Republicans in Congress. The plan, tied to a settlement over a lawsuit Trump dropped against the IRS, would have paid people the administration deemed wrongly targeted by the Biden administration. Lawmakers in Trump’s party objected that taxpayer money could reach people charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and condemned a separate provision that blocked tax audits of Trump, his family and his businesses. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche ended the fund Tuesday, but the tax-audit shield remained in place, drawing continued criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.