NEED TO KNOW

• Senate Republicans, not just Democrats, are pushing to permanently block Trump's $1.8B fund.
• Trump revived it Wednesday, days after his own acting AG pledged to drop it.
• A federal judge had already paused the fund pending an inquiry.

WASHINGTON, DC (TDR) — President Trump publicly endorsed a $1.8 billion Justice Department payout fund on Wednesday that his own acting attorney general had pledged days earlier to abandon, as the Senate moved to bar it permanently.

The big picture: The fund has produced a rare alignment: a Republican president on one side, much of his own party on the other.

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• Acting AG Todd Blanche testified the administration was "not moving forward with the fund," per CBS News.
• Trump called it "a beautiful thing" and said "I love it," per MSNBC.
• GOP Sens. Thom Tillis and Bill Cassidy filed amendments to block it during the Senate's vote-a-rama, CBS reported.

Why it matters: The fund would route taxpayer money to people claiming government "weaponization," potentially including pardoned Jan. 6 defendants.

• It emerged from Trump's lawsuit settlement with the IRS over leaked tax records, per NOTUS.
• Roughly 400 pardoned Jan. 6 participants are seeking $1 million to $10 million each, per Sen. Whitehouse's office.
• Five administrators appointed by the attorney general would decide payouts, PBS reported.

Driving the news: The fight reignited as the Senate processed Trump's stalled immigration bill.

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• The fund had derailed the GOP's $70 billion ICE package and blown Trump's June 1 deadline, per CNN.
• The Senate advanced the bill 53-46 only after the fund was stripped, per Roll Call.
• Tillis and Cassidy, both retiring, have been freer to break with the party, CBS noted.

What they're saying: The sharpest language is coming from inside Trump's own party.

• Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. — the fund is "stupid on stilts," and taking taxpayer money for it "is tyranny," via The Daily Signal.
• Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La. — "you want to make sure it's really dead," he told NOTUS.
• Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine — those convicted of violence against police on Jan. 6 should not get "reimbursement of their legal fees," via CNN.

Yes, but: Democrats are not pure good-government actors here. The vote-a-rama lets the minority force unlimited amendments, and they are using the fund to drive a midterm wedge through the GOP, a political weapon as much as an oversight tool. Tillis flagged exactly that, saying he wanted the effort "led by Republicans for Republicans," not "some Democratic initiative," per NOTUS.

Between the lines: No one can say whether the fund is actually dead, because the president and his Justice Department are describing different realities. Blanche told Congress it was over but refused to put the pledge in writing; Trump then praised it and, asked if it was dead, said he'd "have to ask the lawyers." That gap is why Republican senators distrust a verbal assurance and want statutory language. The fund is being killed not by the opposition but by the president's own side refusing to take his word.

What's next: The outcome rests on a procedural fight, not a clean vote.

• Majority Leader John Thune stripped DOJ funding from the bill, which could let leadership defeat the amendments as non-germane, per Roll Call.
• Schumer said Democrats will push a standalone bill because "Trump's word is nowhere near enough," per Time.
• A federal judge already paused the fund and opened an inquiry, per Time.

If a president's own party won't take his word that a fund is dead, what does an assurance from this White House actually guarantee?

Sources

This report was compiled using reporting from CBS News, MSNBC, CNN, NOTUS, Roll Call, Time, PBS, The Daily Signal, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse's office

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