By Dave Goldiner
New York Daily News
(TNS)
President Trump Monday was reportedly planning to scrap his $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund that critics that critics deride as a slush fund for MAGA allies and Jan. 6 attackers.
With both Democrats and even Republican allies objecting to the fund, the White House was planning to yank the controversial fund, Axios reported, quoting several aides.
MS NOW’s White House sources also confirmed Trump killed the fund.
It remained unclear if Trump himself had signed off on a decision to permanently shelve the “weaponization fund,” which was portrayed as a settlement to a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS.
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There was no immediate White House announcement or social media post about any decision Wednesday afternoon.
The dispute over the fund had already brought Trump’s legislative agenda to a virtual halt with plans for a separate $72 billion immigration spending plan in limbo for weeks.
The reported U-turn from Trump came hours after Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer outlined plans to launch “a coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door” in a letter to fellow Democrats as the Republican-led Senate returned from a weeklong recess without a breakthrough on the measure.
Schumer had threatened to force GOP lawmakers to choose to either defy Trump or rubber-stamp the fund. He insisted Democrats would not negotiate any supposed limits on the fund, which is supposed to benefit anyone who claims they were wrongly legally targeted by previous administrations.
“There will be no escape hatch,” he wrote. “You do not fix a corrupt slush fund by promising to manage it better. You end it.”
Republican leaders had been trying without success to find a path forward for the proposed fund, or a way to avoid dealing with it at all.
The standoff over the “anti-weaponization fund” forced the GOP to leave town before the Memorial Day holiday without taking action to pass a $72 billion immigration and security funding bill on a party-line vote.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune Monday told reporters it was a “safe bet” that the bill will be stalled until and unless the White House made concessions.
Democrats can force votes on the fund as part of the reconciliation process Republicans are using to skirt the filibuster rule that normally requires 60 votes in the Senate to pass most legislation.
In the meantime, a federal judge has blocked the fund from going into effect and the judge that was overseeing the Trump IRS suit has vowed to probe whether the settlement was legally sound, since it amounted to Trump cutting a deal with himself.
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Even many Republicans opposed the fund, especially without major changes such as barring payouts to those convicted of violence on Jan. 6.
Some GOP senators also oppose Trump’s proposal to spend $1 billion on his White House ballroom, after he repeatedly promised the plan would not cost taxpayers a dime.
Political strategists on both sides of the aisle say the spending plans amount to unforced political errors at a time when Americans say they want to see Trump focused on fixing the shaky economy and taming inflation.
Republicans are hoping to cling to control of Congress in the fall midterms, but Democrats believe they will flip the House and have an outside shot at the Senate.
Photo caption: President Donald Trump (The White House/Facebook)
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©2026 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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