Trump Drops the $1.776B Slush Fund After GOP Revolt — But Keeps His Permanent Tax Immunity

On June 2, 2026, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told the House Appropriations subcommittee that the Department of Justice is abandoning the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.

"We are not moving forward with the fund, period."

It was the first time a Trump administration official publicly confirmed the fund is dead. Two weeks ago, Blanche called it the best way to "change the culture" of weaponization. He backed it publicly during his May 19 Senate testimony. He defended it as the centerpiece of his DOJ tenure. Now it's gone — killed by the same Republican Party that is supposed to be Trump's shield.

What killed it

The fund collapsed under the weight of opposition from every direction:

• Senate Republicans revolted — McConnell ("utterly stupid, morally wrong"), Tillis ("a payout pot for punks"), Johnson ("a galactic blunder"), Collins ("I do not support the weaponization fund") — and delayed a $72 billion immigration bill in protest
• Three separate lawsuits were filed challenging the fund's legality
• A federal judge froze the fund entirely — no money in, no claims reviewed, no payments out
• 35 former federal judges asked a court to investigate whether the underlying settlement was fraud
• Jan. 6 officers who were beaten by rioters sued to block the fund that would have paid their attackers
• Joe Rogan compared it to Uday Hussein on the world's biggest podcast
• House Speaker Mike Johnson planned to raise the issue directly with Trump at the White House

The fund survived exactly two weeks. Created on May 19, frozen by a judge on May 29, officially dead on June 2.

What survived

But the fund was only half the settlement. The other half — the part that directly benefits Trump personally — remains untouched.

When asked about the one-page addendum that "FOREVER BARS" the IRS from auditing Trump, his family, his trusts, or his businesses for any tax returns filed before May 18, 2026, Blanche said:

"Nothing has changed."

He defended the document — which he personally signed — calling it an "attorney general order" and insisting: "It's nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the president or his family or his organizations."

That is technically true in the narrowest sense: the immunity covers past returns, not future ones. But "past returns" means every tax filing Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization have ever made. Every deduction ever claimed. Every valuation ever submitted. Every dollar ever sheltered. All of it — permanently shielded from IRS scrutiny, by order of the president's former personal defense attorney.

The $100 million question

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, put it plainly:

"Simply put, you just gave the President and his family a tax immunity to the tune of about $100 million."

Blanche did not dispute the number.

He won't put it in writing

When pressed to formalize the fund's cancellation, Blanche refused:

"We're not moving forward with the fund, period… I am not committing to put anything in writing."

The fund is dead — but only as a verbal commitment from a man who two weeks ago was publicly defending it. No written order. No formal rescission. No document to cite in court. Litigants who sued over the fund said they would continue their legal challenges until they receive formal written confirmation.

The courts aren't done

Even with the fund scrapped, the legal machinery keeps turning:

• The federal judge in Virginia who froze the fund has a hearing scheduled for June 12
• The judge in Florida overseeing Trump's original IRS lawsuit has ordered Trump's attorneys to respond to "grievous allegations" that the settlement was premised on fraud — response due June 12
• 35 former federal judges want the Florida court to invoke Rule 60 to set aside the entire settlement — fund, immunity, and all — on the grounds that it constituted a fraud on the court

The fund may be dead, but the settlement that created it — and the immunity that came with it — is still very much alive in court.

Democrats' next move

Democrats are not treating Blanche's verbal concession as a victory. They plan to:

• Force reconciliation votes to nullify the IRS immunity provision entirely
• Push legislation to strengthen the law barring presidential interference in IRS audits — broadening it to cover any presidential effort to target or immunize any citizen
• Force Senate floor votes to make Republicans go on the record defending Trump's permanent tax immunity

Rep. Jamie Raskin: "We will do whatever we can to force a vote during the budget reconciliation process on this monarchical outrage."

Sen. Chuck Schumer said Democrats would push an amendment to "revoke" Trump's and his family's "free rein to commit tax fraud."

The bait and switch

The slush fund was always the louder scandal — $1.776 billion, Jan. 6 rioters getting paid, bipartisan outrage, a catchy "Uday Hussein" comparison. It drew all the fire. And now it's gone.

But the quieter provision — the one-page addendum that "FOREVER BARS" the IRS from scrutinizing the president's finances — remains. It was always the part that benefited Trump personally. The fund was for his allies. The immunity is for him.

The loud corruption died. The quiet corruption survived. The part that costs Trump nothing was sacrificed. The part worth $100 million to his family was kept. And the acting attorney general — who signed both documents, who was Trump's personal lawyer six months ago — will not even put the cancellation in writing.