Tipsheet

Anti-Weaponization Fund Gets Scrapped, But That's Not Enough for Chuck Schumer

Cameron Arcand
Cameron Arcand  |  June 01, 2026 4:15 PM

The Justice Department’s anti-weaponization fund is being scrapped for now following a federal court order last week, which could open the door for a slightly smoother reconciliation process in Congress. 

In an X post on Monday, the DOJ said that it “disagrees strongly” with the federal court’s decision that “under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people.”

“This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court’s ruling,” the post continued.

However, Senate Minority Leader wants to prevent the fund from ever happening.

"Trump and Republicans are truly abandoning this corrupt scheme, they should have zero problem banning it in law. This week, Senate Democrats will push legislation to ban this slush fund and ensure no president can ever do this again. Trump’s word is nowhere near enough," Schumer posted to X on Monday afternoon.
The fund triggered pushback among lawmakers, as fears mounted that it would lead to “poison pill” amendments in the Homeland Security reconciliation bill for ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a GOP Senate source familiar with the talks explained to Townhall last week. 

The aide explained that a large swath of Senate Republicans wanted more specifics on how the fund would be regulated, the source added. 

"Are there going to be guardrails in place, like, for example, if someone attacked a police officer on January 6th, would they be able to get the fund? If someone was convicted of child molestation, would they be able to access money with this fund?" the source added.

The president met with Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday to discuss the fund, but NOTUS reported that the DOJ's decision to stop the fund might not be enough to calm the backlash in the Senate.