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Panel to Question Blanche on $1.8B Fund05/19 06:25
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will appear on Capitol Hill Tuesday for
his first congressional testimony since taking the reins at the Justice
Department as the law enforcement agency faces intense scrutiny over its plans
to create a $1.776 billion fund to pay allies of the Republican president who
believe they were targeted politically.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will appear on
Capitol Hill Tuesday for his first congressional testimony since taking the
reins at the Justice Department as the law enforcement agency faces intense
scrutiny over its plans to create a $1.776 billion fund to pay allies of the
Republican president who believe they were targeted politically.
Blanche's testimony before a Senate appropriations subcommittee follows
Monday's announcement about the creation of the "Anti-Weaponization Fund,"
which critics decried as an illegal abuse of power designed to line the pockets
of Trump supporters with taxpayer dollars.
In the weeks since assuming control of the Justice Department, Blanche has
moved aggressively to advance the president's priorities -- pushing forward
cases against Trump's political foes, cracking down on leaks to media outlets
and establishing the new fund to compensate those who believe they were
mistreated by the Biden administration Justice Department.
Tuesday's hearing is meant to address the Trump administration's budget
request for the Justice Department but is likely to delve into other
controversies that have escalated concerns about the erosion of the law
enforcement agency's tradition of independence from the White House.
Blanche is expected to face tough questions from lawmakers about the fund
designed to resolve Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over
the leak of his tax returns. Nearly 100 Democrats in the House of
Representatives signed onto a legal brief urging a judge to block what they
described as an unprecedented resolution that they said would unjustly enrich
people close to the president and open the door to meritless claims of
political persecution.
"Let's call this what it is: a billion-dollar slush fund for Trump to reward
felons, insurrectionists, and cronies, paid for by YOUR taxpayer dollars,"
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, a member of the subcommittee from Delaware, wrote
on X. "It's bad enough that this DOJ believes it works for Donald Trump. Now,
it's giving him its budget to use as his piggy bank."
Blanche said Monday the fund will allow for people who believe they were
targeted for prosecution for political purposes to apply for payouts, creating
what he described as "a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization
to be heard and seek redress."
"The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any
American, and it is this Department's intention to make right the wrongs that
were previously done while ensuring this never happens again," Blanche said in
a statement.
The fund is a further demonstration of the administration's eagerness to
reward allies who before Trump came to power were investigated and in some
cases charged and convicted. Most notably, the president on his first day back
in office pardoned or commuted the sentences of supporters who rioted at the
U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. His Justice Department since then has approved
payouts to supporters entangled in the Trump-Russia investigation and
investigated and prosecuted some of his perceived adversaries.
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