Trump administration plans to drop DOJ's $1.8B 'lawfare' fund, reports say

The Trump administration plans to drop the Department of Justice's $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" in the face of legal and political pushback to it, reports said Monday.

The fund was created as part of a settlement of President Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. It is intended to compensate people who were purportedly victims of prosecutorial overreach by the DOJ under the Biden administration.

Reports that the fund was being put on ice came after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., met with Trump at the White House about the fund.

Axios, in its report Monday, quoted a senior administration official as saying that the fund is "dead for now."

Punchbowl separately reported that "the administration is expected to announce that they are going to comply with the court order and not go forward on the weaponization fund."

MS NOW soon after confirmed Axios' report.

On Friday, a federal judge blocked the DOJ from taking any action to create or disburse money from the fund for now as a lawsuit challenging it plays out in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia.

Judge Leonie Brinkema also scheduled a June 12 court hearing on whether to maintain the injunction against the fund.

Brinkema is overseeing one of three federal lawsuits that seek to block the fund.

On Monday, a DOJ spokesperson, when asked about reports saying the fund was being dropped, told CNBC in an email, "The Department of Justice disagrees strongly with the decision on the Anti-Weaponization Fund put forth by the United States District Court Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia, wherein the Court stated that, under no circumstances, may the Department of Justice proceed with the Anti-Weaponization Fund recently established in order to make up for the tremendous abuse, harm, and hate unfairly shown to so many people."

"This Fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted, or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent, or otherwise," the spokesperson said. "The Department will abide by the Court's ruling."

On Monday morning, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Democrats would "launch a coordinated effort to kill the slush fund before one cent goes out the door."

Schumer said Democrats would force Republican senators to vote on the fund by offering a series of amendments during an expected reconciliation vote to fund immigration law enforcement agencies within the Department of Homeland Security.

Criticism of the fund within the Senate GOP caucus last month led Republican senators to drop plans for a reconciliation vote before the Senate went into recess.

CNBC has requested comment from the DOJ and the White House.