A tense, closed-door meeting between Senate Republicans and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche erupted into shouting on Thursday over President Donald Trump’s newly announced $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund.” The internal strife has derailed key legislative plans, according to details shared by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on his podcast early Friday morning.
The multi-billion-dollar Department of Justice fund was established on Monday as part of a settlement from Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS regarding the 2019 leak of his tax returns. However, the announcement has triggered heavy pushback from within the president’s own party, culminating in what Cruz described as an extraordinarily hostile confrontation.
“There were fireworks at an epic level,” Cruz said. “And I gotta say, it was one of the roughest meetings that I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate. There were a lot of Republican senators who were just pissed.”
READ: U.S. Slams Border Shut To Travelers From 3 African Nations As Deadly Ebola Strain Sparks Panic
According to Cruz, roughly 45 of the 53 Republican senators attended the meeting, and “at least half of them were blasting the Attorney General.” He specifically named Senators Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Cornyn (R-TX), and Rand Paul (R-KY) as being notably angry with the administration over the fund’s creation.
The timing of the settlement has disrupted the Senate’s legislative calendar. Republicans had planned to pass a major budget reconciliation package this week to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and the Border Patrol. The sudden introduction of the judgment fund halted that momentum.
“Basically, the message they said is, ‘You know what, we were gonna pass reconciliation this week, we were gonna fund all of ICE, all of CBP, all of Border Patrol, and then you announced this judgment fund,’ and right now, here’s the challenge,” Cruz stated.
The backlash threatens the Republican party’s slim 53-47 majority in the upper chamber. Cruz warned that if even four Republican senators break ranks, legislative progress will stall entirely, calling the situation “a complicating factor for the rest of the year.”
READ: Gov. DeSantis Shakes Up Northwest Florida College Boards And Orders Flags Lowered For Memorial Day
Had Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) brought the reconciliation package to the floor on Thursday night, Cruz noted that Democrats would have introduced amendments to dismantle the new DOJ fund—amendments that likely would have passed with Republican defection.
“We wouldn’t have lost it close. It wouldn’t have been 51-49,” Cruz said. “I gotta tell you, the Republican senators were pissed. People were, the entire meeting, were screaming at the Acting Attorney General.”
Neither the White House nor the Department of Justice has issued an official response regarding the details of the meeting.
Please make a small donation to the Tampa Free Press to help sustain independent journalism. Your contribution enables us to continue delivering high-quality, local, and national news coverage.
Sign up: Subscribe to our free newsletter for a curated selection of top stories delivered straight to your inbox
