Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” Sunday that he would not provide the Trump administration with a “blank check” for the proposed “anti-weaponization” fund and that rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, should not be allowed to benefit from it.
Kennedy appeared open to supporting a bill to enshrine the $1.776 billion fund into law, which has emerged as a primary sticking point holding up the nomination of Todd Blanche to be attorney general.
Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have said they would only support Blanche if the Justice Department alters the conditions of President Donald Trump’s settlement with the IRS over his leaked tax returns and provides assurances that the fund is officially dead.
The settlement had established the “anti-weaponization” fund, which the Justice Department backed off from after bipartisan pushback, though Trump reopened the possibility of pursuing the fund this week. The settlement also established audit protections for Trump, his family members and companies. Last month, a judge extended a block on the “anti-weaponization” fund.
Cornyn and Tillis have also said they want limits on the audit protections.
A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on whether to advance Blanche out of committee was postponed last week after it became clear that Blanche did not have enough Republican support. The committee vote on sending Blanche’s nomination to the full Senate has been rescheduled for Tuesday.
Trump suggested Saturday that he could keep Blanche as acting attorney general and push for the passage of an “anti-weaponization” bill if Cornyn and Tillis hold up the nomination. The president declared that the controversial fund would “immediately be back on the table, and I will get it done.” Just a day earlier, Trump had said that the fund was “dead” but added, “I wish it weren’t.”
Asked whether he would support an “anti-weaponization” fund bill, Kennedy said he would have to read it first.
“We already have an anti-weaponization fund, a pool of money that you can access if you’re abused by government, through the Federal Torts Claim Act,” he said, referring to a law that allows people to file claims against the federal government. “But if he wants to improve it, I’m willing to look at it. But I’m not going to give him a blank check.”
Asked whether anyone who attacked law enforcement or stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 should be able to receive taxpayer money from the fund, Kennedy said he would “take them off the table.”
“It’s too emotional of an issue, and it’s too important of an issue,” he said.
The senator noted that Jan. 6 defendants who believe they were wronged by the federal government can already file claims, which could be evaluated by a judge through an existing law.
Kennedy previously said that he believed Blanche when the acting attorney general told lawmakers the Justice Department was not pursuing the “anti-weaponization” fund anymore.
“I think the attorney general is a man of his word, and I’m very comfortable with what he told us, that there would not be an anti-weaponization fund,” Kennedy said in June.
