Trump admin retreats from Anti-Weaponization Fund after headwinds mount
From The Excerpt by USA TODAY
June 2, 2026 · 11 min
About this episode
The episode discusses the Trump administration's retreat from the Anti-Weaponization Fund amidst legal and political challenges.
In a surprise move, the Trump administration announced that it was retreating from a $1.776 billion-dollar Anti-Weaponization Fund that would have been established as part of a settlement President Donald Trump made with the IRS over leaked tax returns. The fund was intended to compensate people who believe they had been unjustly targeted by the Biden administration’s Justice department, including people involved in the Jan 6th attack on the capitol. The fund was already in legal limbo after one court put the fund on hold last week while a second re-opened the IRS case for further scrutiny. Meanwhile, pushback from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers had mushroomed. We spoke before this news broke with USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Aysha Bagchi about the dramatic legal and political headwinds the Trump administration was facing. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending an email to podcasts@usatoday.com . Episode transcript available here . See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .
People in this episode
Host: USA TODAY
Guest: Aysha Bagchi
Topics covered
- politics
- legal issues
- government funding
- Trump administration
- IRS
- Justice department
Keywords
- Trump administration
- Anti-Weaponization Fund
- IRS
- legal challenges
- political pushback
- Aysha Bagchi
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Trump administration, IRS, Biden administration, Justice department
Places: California
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