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Scoop: Trump admin plans to drop "weaponization" fund
Axios ^ | 06/01/2026 | Marc Caputo

Posted on 06/01/2026 1:23:19 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd

The Trump administration plans to drop its controversial $1.8 billion "weaponization" fund the president sought to compensate alleged victims of prosecutorial conduct under his predecessor, two senior administration officials told Axios.

"It's dead for now," one of the sources said. Why it matters: Bashed as a political slush fund that could be tapped by those convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Trump's proposal has drawn bipartisan pushback in the GOP-led House and Senate.

Zoom in: The plan for the fund came about as part of a settlement between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service.

Trump and his business had sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak of his 2019 and 2020 tax returns by a former contractor.

Last month, they reached a settlement in which Trump dropped the lawsuit in exchange for a $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund for government abuse claims for his administration to use with virtually no oversight. The settlement also included broad immunity for Trump from IRS audits.

The plan was widely criticized on Capitol Hill, drawing backlash even from some Republicans loyal to the president. House Speaker Mike Johnson planned to raise the issue of the fund in a White House meeting with Trump, two sources said.

Driving the news: The White House's discussions about dropping the fund came after two federal judges weighed in against the fund on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the Eastern District of Virginia halted the disbursement of money from it.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in the Southern District of Florida announced she would launch an inquiry. Williams was the judge in charge of the original lawsuit Trump and the Trump Organization brought against the IRS for the unauthorized disclosure of tax information. What they're saying: "We're planning to respect the courts," one of the administration officials said.

"This has become a distraction," a second administration official said. "The president believes government was weaponized against people — it wasn't just him. But this isn't the time and vehicle for it." Reality check: Nothing is certain in the Trump administration until it's officially announced or the president says it himself.

"The plan right now is to halt it. But the president likes the fund, he believes in it. So nothing is final until it's final," one of the sources said. The intrigue: Administration officials differ on whether White House staff members were kept abreast of the fund's creation.

One source said senior administration officials were included in the discussions between the president's legal team and the Justice Department, which set up the fund. "That's not true," a senior administration official told Axios. "The West Wing got blindsided."

This is a developing story and will be updated.


TOPICS: Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: axios; bobwillstroll; jan6th; marccaputo; politicalprisoners; weaponizationfund

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Before the usual suspects jump in and claim this is untrue BS simply because they don't like this turn of events, just know other news sources are also confirming this.
1 posted on 06/01/2026 1:23:19 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd
Not sure how long this temp link wil stay active, but here goes.
2 posted on 06/01/2026 1:25:49 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Import the third world. Become the second world.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I bet you anything they still haven’t charged anyone for burning down the historic church in DC during the BLM riots.

But they hunted down every old lady which walked through a velvet rope held open by capital security!


3 posted on 06/01/2026 1:25:53 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: Responsibility2nd

A bad decision. Consider the left wanting reparations from you and me for what the democrats did over 150 years ago.


4 posted on 06/01/2026 1:26:48 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

So your’re saying no current victims of crimes should ever be compensated?


5 posted on 06/01/2026 1:30:16 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Import the third world. Become the second world.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Grok is our friend -

“No one has ever been arrested for burning down a church in D.C. However, multiple people were identified and arrested for tearing down and burning the Black Lives Matter banners displayed outside historic Black churches in D.C.

These specific banner-burnings occurred during pro-Donald Trump rallies, not the BLM protests:Enrique Tarrio: The leader of the far-right Proud Boys was arrested in January 2021 and subsequently pleaded guilty to property destruction for stealing and burning a BLM banner from the historic Asbury United Methodist Church.

Tarrio was sentenced to five months in jail. Civil Lawsuit: Following the banner burnings at Asbury United Methodist Church and Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, a D.C. judge awarded a $1 million judgment to the Metropolitan A.M.E. congregation against the Proud Boys and Tarrio.

If you were thinking of the arson at the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church during the late May 2020 protests, that fire was set in the basement of the parish house. No one has been convicted for that specific arson, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) continues to offer a $25,000 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person(s) responsible.”

You certainly don’t have to believe me, and you can run a string search on anything you disagree with to judge its validity.


6 posted on 06/01/2026 1:32:45 PM PDT by Bob Wills is still the king
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To: Responsibility2nd

The ball room has cost overruns. So use the $1.8B there and watch the left really blow up


7 posted on 06/01/2026 1:33:46 PM PDT by llevrok (Voter apathy wins elections for liberals.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
So your’re saying no current victims of crimes should ever be compensated?

No, just the opposite. Current victims of crime should be compensated. There is no way to compensate long dead victims of crime, especially from those who historically opposed the crime, and where those who were behind the crime are trying to shift the blame.

8 posted on 06/01/2026 1:36:37 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Still waiting for even one out of the hundreds of thousands of Demonicrats and DeepState traitors to be tried, convicted, sentenced and publically hanged for giving aid and comfort to the domestic and foreign enemies of the United States.


9 posted on 06/01/2026 1:36:46 PM PDT by Carl Vehse
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To: llevrok

Bull


10 posted on 06/01/2026 1:39:40 PM PDT by Fledermaus ("It turns out all we really needed was a new President!")
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To: Responsibility2nd

If the award is to Trump why doesn’t he just donate it to some non-government entity?


11 posted on 06/01/2026 1:43:14 PM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Opinions and belly buttons, everybody has one and they get to show them if they want to.)
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To: Responsibility2nd
...compensate alleged victims of prosecutorial misconduct under his predecessor

Axios bias, corrected.

12 posted on 06/01/2026 1:46:38 PM PDT by MortMan (How deep do you have to plant birdseed?)
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To: Responsibility2nd

There ARE some legitimate legal headaches in it.

Like other things that went that way, they did not get the best legal minds on the case first, instead succumbing to a Trump demand to act before all the legal brainstorming that needed to be done had been done. The problems we see with this often with Trump is not the core idea but the quality of how to do it.


13 posted on 06/01/2026 1:48:37 PM PDT by Wuli
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To: Responsibility2nd

Likely true given the posture of senate GOPer slime. I guess that Ken-doll running the senate did not realize what Cornyn’s loss means for him. Maybe Mike Pence can get him in a think tank after the good folks give him the boot.


14 posted on 06/01/2026 1:51:20 PM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: Responsibility2nd

Maybe I don’t understand this, but I thought the money was given to Trump as part of his settlement with the IRS. How can judges tell him what he can’t do with it, and why are some Republicans against it?


15 posted on 06/01/2026 1:55:40 PM PDT by Steve_Seattle1
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To: Sequoyah101

There has been no award yet. Trump was suing the IRS for Ten Billion but was willing to settle for 1.8 to compensate the J6 Political Prisoners.


16 posted on 06/01/2026 1:57:52 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (Import the third world. Become the second world.)
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To: Bob Wills is still the king

yes I was talking about the arson at the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church during the late May 2020 protests


17 posted on 06/01/2026 1:58:08 PM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: Responsibility2nd

So now there is no settlement of the PDJT’s damages suit.


18 posted on 06/01/2026 2:18:07 PM PDT by jimfree (My 23 y/o granddaughter has more quality exec experience than most Dem pres candidates.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Never heard of Axios. Is this a reliable source?


19 posted on 06/01/2026 2:26:42 PM PDT by Kleon
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To: Responsibility2nd

Dang I could have used a cool million from that fund.


20 posted on 06/01/2026 2:33:23 PM PDT by dennisw (Qatarlson the Insufferable blowhard. There is no limit to human stupidity. |||||||||||||||||||||||||)
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