Blanche insists violent conduct will be weighed when applying for new anti-weaponization fund payouts

By Paula Reid, Casey Gannon, Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche made clear Wednesday that the conduct of January 6, 2021, rioters who attacked law enforcement will be factored when the soon-to-be-set-up commission reviews applications to the anti-weaponization fund.

“One of the factors the commissioners have to consider is what the claimant did — the claimant’s conduct,” Blanche told CNN’s Paula Reid in an interview Wednesday. “The claimant would have to say, ‘I assaulted a cop and I want money.’”

“Whether the commissioners will give that person money – that claimant – it’s up to them. But that’s one of the factors they have to consider,” he continued, adding that Trump “does not stand for assaulting law enforcement.”

Blanche said he couldn’t fully rule out the possibility that someone who was violent toward officers, saying it was up to the commissioners.

“So, whether the commissioners will give that person money, that claimant, it’s up to them,” he said.

The comments come as Democrats and others have raised concerns that individuals who took part in the attack on January 6 will have broad access to the massive pot of taxpayer dollars if they simply show they were prosecuted by the Justice Department in the past.

Some of those people — including ones who acted violently that day — have already been seeking millions from the government, and CNN reported earlier Wednesday that many of them were looking to submit claims to the fund whenever possible.

Just after returning to the White House last year, Trump pardoned more than 1,000 people who had been prosecuted over their role in the January 6 attack, including many who had committed violence against law enforcement officers. But the new Trump fund delivers on a key goal that many January 6 defendants have clamored for: restitution.

Blanche explains fund application process

The comments from Blanche on Wednesday represent the Justice Department’s clearest explanation thus far of how the application process for the fund would work.

The fund will be run by a commission whose members are chosen by Trump’s attorney general and who can be fired by the president at any time. One of the five members will be chosen “in consultation” with Congress, though it’s unclear what the counsel will look like or how closely the attorney general will adhere to it. The members won’t be paid for their service.

Blanche said in his interview with CNN that he believes he’ll find suitable people to be on the commission and that he’s “not sure” whether political affiliation will be considered when choosing them.

“I would be open, to a point,” Blanche said when asked whether a Democrat would be considered.

He added, “They’re going to be smart people. They’re going to be people that understand the political sensitivities that you’re raising.”

“We’ve had a bunch of people apply since we announced this, but that’s something that when we’re ready to announce who the commissioners are, we will let you know,” he added.

Dismissing backlash

The attorney general also attempted to dispel any concern that claimants may receive exorbitantly high payouts from the fund, saying, “This is not a ‘you’re going to get rich’ process.”

“There’s claims processes set up all the time when there’s large numbers of potential victims that that are going to be compensated,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that that all those victims get rich because there’s a claims process put up. It just means that there’s money that’s set aside.”

Blanche told CNN the $1.8 billion pot of money allocated to the fund will prevent the government from having to litigate what he says would have been a deluge of lawsuits brought against it.

When asked how about concerns that the fund comes as gas prices continue to rise, Blanche dismissed any issues.

“The work we’re doing in the fraud space has already saved hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to taxpayers,” Blanche said. “So this isn’t a ‘why are you spending money on this when gas is expensive?’ This is a very often used way to settle claims.”

Blanche called outrage at the fund “fake” because nobody’s applied for or received money yet.

“There’s nothing to be outraged about,” he said.

“The commissioners haven’t even been named. They haven’t set up parameters for everybody to know as to who can, who’s entitled to receive compensation,” he added. “So the outrage is [over] us doing something that is completely legal, allowed under the our laws, and has been done before.”

The Justice Department also faced criticism on Tuesday — the day after the settlement and creation of the fund was announced — when it quietly published an addendum that barred the IRS from investigating Trump or his family for past tax issues.

When asked who came up with the terms for the settlement, Blanche denied he had a role.

“The president has outside counsel, and their counsel, the Department of Justice, not me,” he told CNN. “And there was negotiations, and this was what was part of those negotiations included a discussion around the any pending audits.”

The New York Times’ 2020 analysis of Trump’s tax returns found that an adverse ruling on an IRS audit could have cost him as much as $100 million. Blanche denied that was true Wednesday.

“That’s the definition of completely made-up fake news and then it becomes real news because they repeat it,” Blanche said.

CNN has reached out to The New York Times for comment.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

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