00:00President Trump is dropping his plan for a $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund.
00:06The Department of Justice made the announcement on Monday.
00:10This is the taxpayer-funded cash the President and Department of Justice
00:14had planned to use to pay back people who claimed to be victimized by the government,
00:18like, say, someone who was arrested, jailed, and then pardoned for their role in the January 6th Capitol riots.
00:25There was a lot of bipartisan pushback against this fund.
00:29Senate Republicans complained about the lack of details and guardrails when it came to doling out the cash.
00:35Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was actually grilled by GOP lawmakers after the announcement of the fund.
00:41Then, Senate Republican leaders delayed action on a $72 billion bill to fund Trump's immigration crackdown
00:48after dozens of Republican lawmakers objected to the establishment of the fund.
00:53Senate Republican Leader John Thune said the issue with the fund would have to be resolved
00:58before the legislation could move forward.
01:00Then Monday, the DOJ reluctantly agreed to abide by a federal court ruling that halted the fund,
01:07while voicing its disagreement with the ruling.
01:09The fund was created as part of an agreement between Trump and the IRS to settle his $10 billion lawsuit
01:15against the agency.
01:16The settlement also included a provision that the president and his family cannot be targeted for IRS audits.
01:22It was unclear as of Monday night if dropping the anti-weaponization fund will impact the rest of the deal.
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