Willa Pope RobbinsMay 21st, 2026, 8:31 pm

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) slammed President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund” on Thursday after a meeting with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that saw widespread Republican opposition to the move.

Blanche sat down with lawmakers on Thursday to discuss his department’s new $1.776 billion fund set up as part of a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the 2019 leak of his tax returns. The meeting seemingly did not go well, with Semafor’s Burgess Everett reporting that it was “being described as a ‘sh*tshow’ per people familiar with it.”

A number of Republicans have spoken out publicly against the fund, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) one of its most vocal critics, refering to the policy on Thursday as “stupid on stilts.” Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) said she did not believe that the fund should go towards paying those who were convicted of violence against police officers, and Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL) told reporters she too would have a problem with that possibility.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) vowed to try to “kill” it and went so far as to introduce a bill to block the fund from using taxpayer dollars, while Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) called it a “slush fund.” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told CNN’s Manu Raju that “the decision to unveil $1.8B fund now (when they’re trying to pass the bill) was a giant mistake,” adding, “Somebody described it as a galactic blunder, and I think that’s probably true.”

McConnell joined the chorus on Thursday as well, calling out Blanche specifically in a strongly worded statement that called the fund “morally wrong.”

“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong – Take your pick,” he said.

The opposition to the fund reportedly led to Thune sending his colleagues home on recess without a vote on a reconciliation bill that would have funded tens of billions of Trump’s immigration enforcement policies.

Watch above via CNN.

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