The Rush Is On

Less than a week after the Department of Justice announced the $1.776 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund, the scramble for a piece of it is already underway.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell told The Hill on Wednesday he will file a claim. John Eastman — the former Trump attorney disbarred in California for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election — told CBS News he's "waiting to see the details." Attorney Juda Engelmayer, whose client list includes Sean 'Diddy' Combs and pardoned Capitol riot defendant Brady Knowlton, told CBS News: "Anyone targeted by the Department of Justice will want to submit."

Republican lawyer Dan Backer told CBS News he is "already fielding inquiries." The phrase making rounds in Washington legal circles, per CBS News, is blunt: "All J6ers will apply."

Blanche Does Damage Control on the Hill

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche spent Thursday meeting with Senate Republicans to explain how the fund will actually work, according to The Hill. The meetings came after a wave of bipartisan questions — including from members of his own party — about basic mechanics the DOJ has NOT yet answered publicly.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) sent a formal letter to Blanche demanding details, according to The Hill. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told The Hill that Congress, NOT the executive branch, should decide how nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money gets distributed.

"People are confused," Cassidy said, according to The Hill.

The Structure — Such As It Is

Here's what we actually know about the fund, per CBS News and USA Today:

• Treasury must move the money into the fund within 60 days of Blanche's memo, signed this week.
• A five-member commission, appointed by the attorney general, will oversee it.
• The fund runs through December 2028 — spanning the rest of Trump's term.
• Criteria for claims: the "totality of the circumstances," including legal and prison costs.

A Trump administration official told CBS News the commission "will determine specifics and be transparent" once assembled. The commission does not yet exist.

Democrats Are Furious — But Are They Right?

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) called it "pure theft of public funds" at a May 19 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing, according to USA Today. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) warned the DOJ against compensating what he called "rioters," per The Hill.

Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn told The Hill that Trump is putting Jan. 6 defendants on a "retainer" ahead of the 2028 election.

The fund's origins raise structural questions. Trump sued the IRS — an agency he controls as president — for $10 billion over leaked tax returns. His own Justice Department then settled that suit, not with a direct payment to Trump, but with a taxpayer-funded pool that benefits his political allies. A federal judge never ruled on the merits. The entire arrangement bypassed Congress, according to USA Today.

Cassidy has called for congressional oversight of the fund.

What Mainstream Coverage Is Missing

Left-leaning outlets have focused primarily on Jan. 6 defendants receiving compensation. Right-leaning outlets largely haven't covered the Cassidy and Fitzpatrick pushback seriously.

As NBC News reported, Republican operative Ed Martin told former Sen. Norm Coleman over breakfast at the Willard InterContinental that the DOJ would pay out "something like $40 million" to pardoned Jan. 6 defendants before the fund was publicly announced. The final fund ended up 44 times larger. Coleman told NBC News the people reporting that conversation "must have taken part of a conversation totally out of context." Martin did not respond to comment requests. The DOJ previously told NBC News Martin "did not make these remarks" — without specifying which part was inaccurate.

Where Things Stand

Nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money is about to flow into a fund with no congressional approval and no defined eligibility rules. The DOJ is run by a man who was Trump's personal defense attorney. The fund itself was created through a lawsuit Trump filed against his own government.

Congress has not voted to authorize the distribution. Questions about how the commission will define eligibility remain unanswered.