Trump’s ‘anti-weaponization fund’ is a problem for the GOP
6/2/202617 min
A federal court put President Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund” on hold, but Republican leaders on Capitol Hill say they would like to see the president back away from the fund permanently. We discuss why the fund poses a political problem for Republican lawmakers.
This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, Supreme Court and justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, and White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez.
This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.
Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Miles Parks· Host0:16
[upbeat music] Hey there, it's the NPR Politics Podcast. I'm Miles Parks. I cover voting.
Carrie Johnson· Panelist0:25
I'm Carrie Johnson. I cover the Supreme Court and the Justice Department.
Franco Ordoñez· Panelist0:28
And I'm Franco Ordonez. I cover the White House.
Miles Parks· Host0:30
And we are recording this podcast at 12:19 PM Eastern Time on Tuesday, June 2nd. And today, we're talking about new developments with President Trump's controversial nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. So Carrie, in the last couple days, two separate courts have weighed in on this fund. I want to start with the order that came down from a judge in Virginia late last week. What happened there?
Carrie Johnson· Panelist0:54
So in that case in Virginia, a former Justice Department prosecutor, a professor, and, and several other organizations and nonprofits that, um, basically are somehow crosswise with the Trump administration sued over this, uh, nearly $2 billion fund that the president has created or wants to create. They basically say that because they, in some ways, have been victims of the administration, they should be able to [laughs] apply for this fund, but it seems like the criteria will not apply to them. And, uh, they sued in, in this federal court. A judge put this