Senate Democrats Question Acting Attorney General on Anti-Weaponization Fund Already Blocked by Federal Judge

A group of Senate Democrats sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche requesting more information about the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, CBS News reported. Led by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, the four Democrats questioned how the fund complies with Justice Manual policies on settlement agreements involving payments to third parties.

The senators suggested the establishment of the program departed from the department's internal procedures. "The central question this letter demands you answer is not whether the fund will proceed, but whether the head of the Department of Justice ignored the Department's own rules to carry out an act of corruption designed to benefit the President and his allies," the Democrats wrote.

Joining Booker were Sens.

Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Adam Schiff of California, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. All four are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. They asked Blanche to respond to their questions by July 8.

"Your actions to create the Anti-Weaponization Fund raise every concern that DOJ's rules limiting third-party settlements were designed to address," the senators wrote. Booker and all Democrats on the Judiciary Committee sent a separate letter to committee chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa requesting he move forward with a scheduled Justice Department oversight hearing on July 21.

The Democrats cited the federal prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, the release of the Justice Department's files from its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the creation of the anti-weaponization fund.