WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump drew sharp rebukes from both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill after he left the door open to taxpayer payouts for rioters who assaulted police officers during the Jan. 6 attack in an interview with NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s planned \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund, which appears to be on pause amid bipartisan backlash, \u201cshould be for people who have had their constitutional rights violated, not who violated other people\u2019s constitutional rights,\u201d Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Monday. \u201cIf you\u2019ve been convicted of assault on a cop … doesn\u2019t seem to me like people who are victims.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a member of the Judiciary Committee, told NBC News he plans to introduce legislation this week to bar anyone convicted of offenses related to the attack on Jan. 6, 2021, or interfering in recent presidential elections from receiving taxpayer-funded federal payouts related to the Capitol riot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe attorney general claims that he is not going to go forward with a slush fund for the Jan. 6 criminals, but the president still wants to see them receive money,\u201d Schiff said in an interview in the Capitol. \u201cI want to make sure they can\u2019t use some other mechanism to pay these people off, so that is the necessity of the bill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe attorney general\u2019s word is not good enough under any circumstance,\u201d Schiff added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The attorney general in question is Todd Blanche, who has served in an acting capacity for the past two months and whom Trump officially nominated to the post Monday. Blanche, who previously was Trump\u2019s personal attorney, recently promised lawmakers that the controversial $1.8 billion Justice Department \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund was dead following a GOP revolt against the fund that brought Trump\u2019s agenda to a screeching halt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A GOP leadership aide noted that Blanche was under oath last week when he testified that the fund was dead and said Republicans are taking him at his word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Trump reopened the issue Sunday, telling NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d moderator Kristen Welker that rioters who breached the Capitol on Jan. 6 were unfairly targeted by prosecutors and deserved compensation and that the fund was a \u201cgreat idea.\u201d Asked by Welker whether he would rule out payouts for those convicted of assaulting police that day, Trump declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it,\u201d Trump said, pivoting to suggest, without evidence, that the FBI set rioters up and that the 2020 election was stolen from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund or other possible payouts for convicted Jan. 6 rioters are sure to come up during what\u2019s expected to be a bruising Senate confirmation process for Blanche to become attorney general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI need to know if Todd Blanche is an attorney general who used to be the president\u2019s personal attorney, or is he the president\u2019s personal attorney who just happens to be attorney general,\u201d said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who has more freely broken with Trump since he lost his primary last month to a Trump-backed opponent. \u201cThat kind of summarizes my concerns and what I\u2019ll be looking for, and I need to be convinced of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blanche will need the support of Republicans on the Judiciary Committee and all but three in the full Senate to be confirmed to lead the Justice Department if all Democrats oppose him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. John Cornyn, of Texas, another GOP senator whom Trump successfully worked to defeat in his primary, could give Blanche trouble in his confirmation process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have a lot of questions. You know, being AG is a unique job, because you\u2019re not the president\u2019s lawyer, you\u2019re the chief legal officer for the United States, but you\u2019re also a member of the president\u2019s Cabinet, which means you can be fired anytime,\u201d Cornyn said. \u201cSo it\u2019s a really, maybe the hardest balancing act in the Cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m interested in hearing how he would approach the job, because he was President Trump\u2019s lawyer at one time, but if he\u2019s AG, he won\u2019t be the president\u2019s lawyer,\u201d Cornyn said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said he takes at face value Blanche\u2019s promise that the \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund isn\u2019t coming back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the attorney general is a man of his word, and I\u2019m very comfortable with what he told us, that there would not be an anti-weaponization fund,\u201d Kennedy said in an interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked about Trump\u2019s continuing to talk about the fund, Kennedy replied, \u201cIt\u2019s the president\u2019s prerogative \u2014 it\u2019s a free country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across the Capitol, moderate Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said there is no support in Congress for the fund or payouts to people who committed crimes against police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe concern my constituents and I have is that money possibly going to folks who hit cops,\u201d LaLota said. \u201cEspecially when there is video evidence, they shouldn\u2019t get a dime from our government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., whose state is home to many Capitol Police officers and others who work in the complex, said Trump\u2019s decision to constantly revive the idea of the fund is \u201cfoolish\u201d and making things harder for his GOP allies on the Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou can tell Dems aren\u2019t going to like it, of course, but you can tell how uncomfortable it makes Republicans that they have to vote on it. We\u2019ll have to vote on it more,\u201d Kaine said. \u201cIt\u2019s really unpopular out in the field, and that\u2019s making life harder for Republicans to have to answer these questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy would you keep raising this when it is clearly kind of an albatross issue for your own team?\u201d he asked, noting the midterm elections coming up in November. \u201cAnd I can\u2019t think of another answer other than he doesn\u2019t really care\u201d about Republicans on the ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n