Trump Plans to Drop $1.8 Billion Slush Fund After Major Court Loss

The Trump administration is suspending its $1.776 billion slush fund for alleged MAGA victims of political targeting after internal disagreement. “The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people,” the Justice Department wrote on X Monday afternoon, referring to the fund’s temporary ban last Friday. “This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling.”Last week, a federal judge suspended the administration from proceeding with its slush fund for at least two weeks, scheduling a June 12 hearing to hear arguments. If Trump has truly given up on his plans, this would be a quick life and death for an enrichment fund that drew criticism from both Democrats and even some Republicans, as both sides decried it as a problematic conflict of interests at best and blatant taxpayer theft at worst. Outrage grew as the administration refused to exclude January 6 rioters convicted of assaulting police officers from getting a payout.“This has become a distraction,” an administration source told Axios. “The president believes government was weaponized against people—it wasn’t just him. But this isn’t the time and vehicle for it.”