{"id":25490,"date":"2026-08-02T20:06:05","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T15:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25490"},"modified":"2026-08-02T20:06:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T15:06:05","slug":"sen-john-kennedy-says-hed-exclude-jan-6-rioters-from-anti-weaponization-fund-legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25490","title":{"rendered":"Sen. John Kennedy says he\u2019d exclude Jan. 6 rioters from \u2018anti-weaponization\u2019 fund legislation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-Sen-John-Kennedy-ch-1217-a68bc9.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-ba97e3\" class=\"body-graf\">Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d Sunday that he would not provide the Trump administration with a \u201cblank check\u201d for the proposed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/trump-revive-anti-weaponization-blanche-attorney-general-cornyn-tillis-rcna590370\" target=\"_blank\">\u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund<\/a> and that rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, should not be allowed to benefit from it.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-666344\" class=\"body-graf\">Kennedy appeared open to supporting a bill to enshrine the $1.776 billion fund into law, which has emerged as a primary sticking point holding up the nomination of Todd Blanche to be attorney general.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-559928\" class=\"body-graf\">Republican Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have said they would only support Blanche if the Justice Department alters the conditions of President Donald Trump\u2019s settlement with the IRS over his leaked tax returns and provides assurances that the fund is officially dead.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-6c6468\" class=\"body-graf\">The settlement had established the \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund, which the Justice Department backed off from after bipartisan pushback, though Trump reopened the possibility of pursuing the fund this week. The settlement also established audit protections for Trump, his family members and companies. Last month, a judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/justice-department\/judge-indefinitely-blocks-trumps-anti-weaponization-fund-rcna349814\" target=\"_blank\">extended a block<\/a> on the \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-41e3ce\" class=\"body-graf\">Cornyn and Tillis have also said they want limits on the audit protections.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-829f29\" class=\"body-graf\">A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on whether to advance Blanche out of committee was postponed last week after it became clear that Blanche did not have enough Republican support. The committee vote on sending Blanche\u2019s nomination to the full Senate has been rescheduled for Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-c5435d\" class=\"body-graf\"><a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/117020029291674756\" target=\"_blank\">Trump suggested <\/a>Saturday that he could keep Blanche as acting attorney general and push for the passage of an \u201canti-weaponization\u201d bill if Cornyn and Tillis hold up the nomination. The president declared that the controversial fund would \u201cimmediately be back on the table, and I will get it done.\u201d Just a day earlier, Trump had said that the fund was \u201cdead\u201d but added, \u201cI wish it weren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3585c5\" class=\"body-graf\">Asked whether he would support an \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund bill, Kennedy said he would have to read it first.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-40750c\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWe already have an anti-weaponization fund, a pool of money that you can access if you\u2019re abused by government, through the Federal Torts Claim Act,\u201d he said, referring to a law that allows people to file claims against the federal government. \u201cBut if he wants to improve it, I\u2019m willing to look at it. But I\u2019m not going to give him a blank check.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-1e7a59\" class=\"body-graf\">Asked whether anyone who attacked law enforcement or stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 should be able to receive taxpayer money from the fund, Kennedy said he would \u201ctake them off the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-587d44\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cIt\u2019s too emotional of an issue, and it\u2019s too important of an issue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d630ce\" class=\"body-graf\">The senator noted that Jan. 6 defendants who believe they were wronged by the federal government can already file claims, which could be evaluated by a judge through an existing law.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b40749\" class=\"body-graf\">Kennedy previously said that he believed Blanche when the acting attorney general told lawmakers the Justice Department was not pursuing the \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund anymore.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-320e8b\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">\u201cI think the attorney general is a man of his word, and I\u2019m very comfortable with what he told us, that there would not be an anti-weaponization fund,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/congress\/republicans-say-trump-close-door-paying-jan-6-rioters-rcna349026\" target=\"_blank\">Kennedy said in June.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told NBC News\u2019 \u201cMeet the Press\u201d Sunday that he would not provide the Trump administration with a \u201cblank check\u201d for the proposed \u201canti-weaponization\u201d fund and that rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, should not be allowed to benefit from it. Kennedy appeared open to supporting a bill to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-05\/260514-Sen-John-Kennedy-ch-1217-a68bc9.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}