The fund was established as part of a settlement in which the US president agreed to drop his lawsuit against the IRS and the Treasury Department, which had targeted the leaking of his tax returns to the media.
But the fund has faced strong criticism, including from Republicans in Congress who have threatened to vote down the fund. Late Monday, the Justice Department announced, following a court order, that it was temporarily halting the project.
On Tuesday, Todd Blanche told a congressional committee that the Justice Department will not move forward with the fund.
We are not going to proceed with it, period, he said in the hearing.
However, the department is moving forward with plans to finalize a decision that the US government should commit to never again investigate tax issues related to Donald Trump and his tax returns.
That response came after Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro on the committee told Blanche that:
This government has engaged in what may be the most shameless and blatant corruption I have ever seen. And you are in the middle of it.
The fund's nearly $1.8 billion would go to Trump supporters who believe they have been subjected to wrongful investigations and prosecutions – and not least to those convicted of the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Trump responded to Tuesday's reports by claiming on Truth Social that the media is lying about the fund and linking to a supporter's defense of it.
