Washington — A group of Senate Democrats are pressing Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for more information about the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund and whether the Justice Department violated its own rules when it agreed to create the controversial program as part of a settlement with President Trump.

Led by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, the four Democrats questioned how the fund complies with policies laid out in the Justice Manual for settlement agreements that involve payments to third parties. The senators suggested that the establishment of the program departed from the department's internal procedures.

"The central question this letter demands you answer is not whether the fund will proceed, but whether the head of the Department of Justice ignored the Department's own rules to carry out an act of corruption designed to benefit the President and his allies," the Democrats wrote to Blanche. "This question does not become moot simply because courts and public pressure forced the Department to reverse course."

Joining Booker in the effort are Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Adam Schiff of California and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, all members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They asked Blanche to respond to their questions about the fund by July 8.

"Your actions to create the Anti-Weaponization Fund raise every concern that DOJ's rules limiting third-party settlements were designed to address," they wrote. "These rules exist to prevent DOJ from abusing its broad settlement authority to direct funds to preferred non-governmental entities, an abuse that improperly circumvents the congressional appropriations process and that members of both parties have long condemned. The Justice Manual violations described above represent only one dimension of the illegality of this Fund."

Separately, Booker and all Democrats on the Judiciary panel also sent a letter to its chairman, GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, requesting he move forward with a scheduled Justice Department oversight hearing set for July 21 while the committee considers Blanche's nomination for attorney general.

The Democrats accused Blanche of playing an "integral role in the Department's most outrageous actions since Watergate."  They cited the federal prosecutions of Mr. Trump's perceived political enemies, such as former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James; the release of the Justice Department's files from its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein; and the creation of the "anti-weaponization fund," among other actions.

"The Committee has constitutional duties before it: to review the fitness of Mr. Blanche to lead the Department of Justice and to conduct regular oversight of the Department of Justice," the Democrats wrote. "It must honor both duties, which requires that the Committee keep its scheduled oversight hearing of the Department as a separate proceeding. The Department's conduct demands an accounting, and the American people are entitled to one, whatever the fate of the nomination."

Mr. Trump nominated Blanche for attorney general earlier this month following the ouster of Pam Bondi from the role in April. Blanche, who was the president's personal defense lawyer before joining the administration, has been serving as the acting attorney general since then.

His confirmation hearing before the Judiciary Committee is set for July 15.

The Justice Department established the $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund as part of a deal with Mr. Trump to settle a civil lawsuit he filed against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns by a former government contractor. The fund was designed to "provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare," according to the Justice Department.

But the program drew immense pushback from Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill because of concerns that payouts would be made to people convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Several lawsuits were also filed challenging the legality of the fund, and a federal judge in Virginia blocked the Justice Department from moving forward with it. In that case, Booker and Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, warned that the program was an "immediate and dire threat" to the constitutional order.

While Mr. Trump had defended the fund amid the backlash, Blanche told a House committee earlier this month that the Justice Department is "not moving forward with the fund. Period." But the acting attorney general refused lawmakers' request he commit in writing to ending the program, and the Justice Department declined to submit to the Virginia court a sworn declaration from Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the fund is dead.