The eyes of the world are on the US' negotiations with Iran to end its war in the Middle East, as a tenuous ceasefire continues to hold and demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are repeated. But there are also developments happening within the United States as the crucial midterm elections move closer. Those developments include the apparent dropping of plans to establish a compensation fund for Trump allies. The about-face is a setback for one of Trump's most divisive second-term initiatives, which had drawn criticism from Democrats, legal experts and numerous Republicans in Congress.
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TRANSCRIPT
It was one of the most controversial announcements to come out of the Trump White House: a plan to settle the President's lawsuit against his own Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns by a former government contractor by establishing a $1.8 billion compensation fund.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the fund would address what he alleged was the weaponisation of the Department of Justice by the previous Democratic administration of Joe Biden.
"What we're trying to do is correct for the weaponisation that was pervasive in the last administration. And I appreciate everyone's patience as we work through that."
Few were convinced the compensation fund was necessary.
Critics like Justice Senate Subcommittee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen raised concerns that it was a way to make payments to those convicted of the infamous January 6 storming of the Capitol, before the President issued pardons.
"Here you are at a budget hearing asking for taxpayer funds to pursue the department's mission when you're using those funds to punish Trump's adversaries, reward his friends, and pursue his personal vendettas."
On his first day back in office last year, Trump granted clemency to more than 1,500 people convicted over the Capitol assault, when his supporters attacked Congress in an effort to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
The administration has also begun removing Justice Department press releases about January 6 prosecutions, calling them "partisan propaganda."
Stanley Woodward has been among those in the government to defend the fund.
"I think that it's way, way, way too early for us to rush to judgement on whether this was a good or a bad idea to describe it as a slush fund, or really even to criticise it. You know why? Because there's not been a single claim filed. There's not been a single payment made."
A few senators including Bill Hagerty from Tenneesee also embraced that message.
"The Biden administration dramatically weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) and law enforcement across the nation. And having been a victim of it myself, having been a victim myself of Arctic frost, I can say this."
But the fund has received limited support from within Republican ranks.
Senate Republican leaders have postponed a vote on a major bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol partly because of concerns the fund could allow January 6 defendants to receive taxpayer money.
Long-time GOP Senator Ted Cruz said on his podcast acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was summoned to a tense meeting with the group, many of whom expressed fury about the political optics of the fund months out from crucial mid-term elections.
Moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins - who is locked in a tight race to keep her seat in Maine - told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday she did not support the former defendants being paid anything from the fund.
"I do not. If they have been convicted, I do not. If they engaged in violence against police officers, I do not."
A federal judge had already temporarily blocked the White House from moving ahead with the proposal.
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema granted a temporary injuncton while she considered imposing a longer-lasting pause.
In response to questions from Congresswoman Grace Meng in the Appropriations Committee, the Acting Attorney-General has now confirmed plans to drop the whole thing altogether.
"We're not moving forward with the fund... The reasons for the fund, I think, were - remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund."
MENG: "Not moving forward ever?"
BLANCHE: "Correct."
The about-face is a setback for one of Trump's most divisive second-term initiatives.
But an addendum to the settlement bars the IRS from pursuing Trump, his family or companies for back tax claims, and Blanche says that remains in place.
Under those terms of the settlement, it means the IRS is "forever barred" from pursuing any tax claims against Trump, his family or his businesses that were pending as of the May 18 settlement date.
