Why the Trump administration is backing off from the DOJ "anti-weaponization" fund

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]The Trump administration appears to be backing off of its plan, as Astoria mentioned, for the so-called anti-weaponization fund for now. It was established to reimburse people who believe they were mistreated by the federal government. The fund sparked strong bipartisan backlash and was temporarily blocked by a judge. And the Justice Department says they will abide by the court's order. CBS News senior White House correspondent Weijia Jiang joins us now. Uh so, Weijia, why why now? Why reverse course on this fund? Do you think it will stick?

[00:00:29]>> Well, there are really two things going on here happening in parallel. On the one hand, there are court cases in federal court that have uh required the fund to be temporarily halted, which the DOJ said it would comply with. There's also another inquiry down in Florida looking at whether the plaintiff and the defendant are actually the same because uh plaintiffs in that case say that, you know, it is President Trump in both cases. So, you have the legal aspect that is holding the fund up. But um separately from that, CBS News has learned that the administration plans to scrap the fund altogether. And that is because um in a rare uh you know, instance of Republican backlash, there has been so much pushback from not only Democrats but Republicans on Capitol Hill um who clearly drew this as a line that they did not want to cross. And we learned that the White House was um likely going to abandon this effort altogether yesterday shortly after House Speaker Mike Johnson came here to the White House to talk to the president about the fund. And so, you have the legal aspect, you also have uh just the political uh challenges that this fund has faced since the president first announced it. Because you may remember the administration refused to rule out January 6th defendants as potential beneficiaries.

[00:01:52]>> So, Weijia, as you know, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will likely face scrutiny over the fund when he testifies on Capitol Hill today.

[00:02:00]Uh as you indicated and others, uh many Republicans are now and have in the past couple of days come out against this fund. What can we expect?

[00:02:10]>> Well, given all the news that we just laid out, I think they're going to really press him on what is the status of this fund. Have you decided to um you know, stop pursuing it altogether? If you are just temporarily pausing to comply with a court order, what are your plans after that? And um I imagine they will want answers about who can and cannot receive money uh from this fund if it in fact goes forward.

[00:02:39]>> And we just you know, this broke in the last hour. President Trump said he's appointing Bill Pulty to serve as acting director of national intelligence. He's currently uh the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Freddie Mac. You know, we were joking, so many different hats. Um What are we learning about that?

[00:02:56]>> Well, we're learning that he's going to keep wearing those hats when he puts another one on if the president gets what he wants, which is to be the director of national intelligence. Of course, Tulsi Gabbard, the current director, uh resigned or submitted a resignation letter earlier um or I should say last month because she is going to tend to her husband who has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Her departure date is June 6th, which is why you just saw the president's announcement a short time ago that he made. You're seeing pictures now of Bill Pulty who um you know, he has tapped to fill that position. Aside from you know, his current roles um in federal housing, he is also a staunch Trump supporter and ally. He has been very vocal and very active in submitting um inquiries to the Justice Department as it relates to housing fraud. He's also been very outspoken about Fed chair Jerome Powell, calling him a maniac, criticizing him in much of the same way that President Trump has done, too. So, this is a good case of how being loyal to the president can result in you know, new opportunities.

[00:04:11]>> All right, Weija Jiang, really appreciate it.

[00:04:13]>> Thanks, Weija.

[00:04:14]>> Sure.