President Trump spent May 22 on Truth Social defending the Justice Department's $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund and attacking the Republicans who torpedoed his timeline. The finger-pointing and presidential tantrums escalated as the growing question of whether this fund survives at all came to a head.

Trump Plays the Martyr

In a May 22 Truth Social post, Trump claimed he 'gave up a lot of money' by letting the fund go forward instead of pursuing his family's IRS lawsuit for 'an absolute fortune,' according to USA Today. His framing: he's sacrificing personally to help others wronged by the Biden administration.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the fund on May 18 as part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit the Trump family brought against the IRS seeking $10 billion in damages over the president's leaked tax returns. The Trump family voluntarily dropped that lawsuit — meaning no federal judge ever ruled on the merits — and in exchange, the DOJ created this fund, according to USA Today.

Trump calling that a sacrifice stretches the definition of cutting a deal.

Trump Kneecaps Tillis Publicly

In a separate Truth Social post, Trump went after Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina directly, calling him 'weak and ineffective,' according to USA Today.

Tillis didn't blink. He told CNN that Jan. 6 defendants — who Trump pardoned and who could receive payouts from the fund — 'don't need restitution, many of them deserve to be in prison.' He called it 'beyond the pale' and said it's 'bad policy, bad timing, and bad politics.' Tillis is NOT running for reelection, which means he has ZERO incentive to take Trump's punches lying down.

McConnell Calls It 'Utterly Stupid'

Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell didn't hedge either. According to USA Today, McConnell called the fund 'utterly stupid, morally wrong.' That's the most powerful Republican senator of the last two decades using blunt language.

The Fund Itself Has Real Problems

A five-person committee — every single member appointed by Todd Blanche — decides who gets paid. There are few guardrails, according to USA Today. The DOJ's own one-page memo, obtained by MS NOW, described the fund as designed to 'hear and redress claims of Americans who suffered from lawfare and weaponization,' defined as government power used to target people for 'improper and unlawful reasons.'

Who defines 'improper and unlawful'? The five people Blanche picked.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska told NOTUS that 'no one held back' during the closed-door meeting with Blanche. The two-hour session was described to Semafor by a source familiar with the meeting as a 'shitshow.'

Thune's Uncomfortable Position

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters the administration did NOT consult him before rolling out the fund. 'It would've been nice if they consulted,' he said, according to MS NOW.

Thune admitted it 'became a more complicated and bumpy path than we had hoped for.' The majority leader was effectively admitting the White House ambushed his caucus with a politically toxic proposal in the middle of a high-stakes reconciliation vote.

What CNN Got Right — And What It Glossed Over

CNN's coverage noted Trump's Secret Service funding request and East Wing ballroom security money also face GOP opposition — a detail that shows the fund isn't the only area where Republicans are pushing back.

What CNN glossed over: the structural problem with an unelected, Blanche-appointed committee having unchecked authority over $1.8 billion in taxpayer-adjacent payouts. The left-leaning framing focused heavily on Jan. 6 defendants as the outrage hook. The governance structure — an independent committee with oversight — is a concern that cuts across party lines.

What This Means for the Immigration Bill

The $72 billion immigration enforcement reconciliation package — meant to fund ICE and Customs and Border Protection — is now stalled with NO clear path to passage before June 1, according to reporting from CNN, USA Today, and MS NOW. Trump's own deadline is dead.

Senators are home for a weeklong Memorial Day recess. When they come back, they'll have to untangle the fund question before they can advance the bill. Republicans don't have margin to waste — they need 50 votes and they couldn't get there before the break.

The Fallout

Trump created a payout fund with no judicial oversight, no independent oversight, and a settlement that let his family walk away from a $10 billion lawsuit without a single judge ruling on it. Then he dumped it into the middle of his own party's immigration priority vote without warning Senate leadership. When Republicans pushed back, he attacked them on social media.

Sen. Tillis said there's 'not one positive thing that could be spun out of this between now and November.' The governance structure remains unresolved, and lawmakers still have no clear path forward when they return from recess.