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By Andrew Stanton
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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Hunter Biden is eligible to apply for President Donald Trump’s new anti-weaponization fund during his testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday
Blanche defended the fund, which had been announced one day earlier as part of a deal to end the Trump administration’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The plan has drawn bipartisan criticism on Capitol Hill, as both Democrats and Republicans have expressed concerns.
Senators Press Todd Blanche on Anti-Weaponization Fund
Blanche defended the fund during the hearing, which was meant to discuss the Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) budget request. But he sparred with senators over the fund, the DOJ’s handling of the Epstein files and the administration’s prosecutions.
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During the committee hearing, Blanche said there are no partisan restrictions on the fund, citing Hunter Biden, the son of former President Joe Biden, as an example of someone who could apply.
“Whether you’re Hunter Biden or another individual who believed they were a victim of weaponization, they can all apply for this fund,” he said.
He added that applying for the fund does not necessarily mean commissioners will agree to reward them or that they’ll receive funding; it just means they can apply.
Newsweek reached out to Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell, for comment via email.
Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, pressed him on whether people who assaulted police officers during the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol would be eligible. Blanche declined to specify if there would be rules disqualifying them from the fund.
“As was made plainly yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they are a victim of weaponization,” he said.
He said it the fund is “unusual” but “not unprecedented.”
“It's not limited to Republicans. It’s not limited to the Biden weaponization. It's not limited in any way, scope or form to January 6th, or to Jack Smith,” he said.
Trump Administration's Anti-Weaponization Fund: What to Know
The DOJ announced the fund in a statement on Monday, describing it as a “systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
The fund would have the authority to issue formal apologies and award monetary relief to claimants, and there are no partisan requirements. It will receive $1.776 billion from the judgment fund tied to the IRS lawsuit, the DOJ said.
Blanche said the DOJ is “setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
But the fund has drawn bipartisan criticism. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said he is "not a big fan" of the fund, CNN reported.
Democrats and government watchdogs called the arrangement “corrupt” and unprecedented, warning that it could channel taxpayer funds to Trump allies while inviting questionable claims of political persecution.
A total of 93 House Democrats signed onto an amicus brief challenging the fund, according to a press statement from the House Judiciary Committee Democrats. Ranking Member Jamie Raskin in a statement described it as “fraud and highway robbery.”
“This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump at DOJ to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes,” the Maryland Democrat wrote.
The brief was filed in the case Trump v. IRS in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Trump said Monday he was not involved in the fund’s creation.
“This is reimbursing people who were horribly treated, horribly treated. It’s anti-weaponization. They’ve been weaponized,” he said. “They’ve been, in some cases, imprisoned wrongly. They paid legal fees they didn’t have. They’ve gone bankrupt. Their lives have been destroyed.”
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Why Was Hunter Biden Charged?
Hunter Biden was set to be sentenced in two criminal cases—a felony gun charge and federal tax fraud—but was pardoned before his father left office. He was convicted of three felony charges related to the 2018 purchase of a revolver in June 2024 and pleaded guilty to nine charges of tax evasion in September.
Prosecutors accused him of lying about his status as a drug user when purchasing a firearm in 2018. Section 922(g)(3) of the United States Code says it is against the law for anyone who is an "unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance" to possess a firearm.
This article includes reporting by the Associated Press.
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