Trump breaks silence after GOP revolt over his $1.8B ‘slush fund’ sees Congress head for vacation

President Donald Trump lashed out at his Republican colleagues in the Senate who left The Hill this week without funding the president’s signature immigration agenda after widespread opposition to his $1.8 billion “slush fund.”

In a furious Truth Social post Friday, the president hit out at Senator Thom Tillis, a soon-retiring Republican who has broken from Trump on various matters – including the newly-formed “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Referring to Tillis as a “weak and ineffective Senator,” Trump accused Tillis of pushing back against him in retaliation for refusing to endorse the senator.

“The media said how brave he was to take me on, but he wasn’t brave, he was just the opposite - HE WAS A QUITTER!” Trump wrote. “Now he can have all the fun he wants for a few months, with some of his RINO friends, screwing the Republican Party. In the end it will only get bigger, and better, and stronger, than ever before!!!”

Lawmakers headed home early ahead of Memorial Day weekend after hitting an impasse over the Justice Department’s newly created fund, which would allow people who believe they were unfairly prosecuted to obtain monetary relief from taxpayers.

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Many have raised concerns that the fund would give people, such as the January 6 rioters pardoned by Trump, the chance to seek money from the government – despite once violently attacking the Capitol.

That includes Republicans such as Tillis, who called the fund “stupid on stilts,” Senator Mitch McConnell, who referred to it as “utterly stupid,” and Senator Bill Cassidy, who called it a “slush fund.”

“Imagine that a fund that is set up to compensate people who assaulted Capitol police officers and other responding agencies, right?” Tillis said Wednesday.

“People that had pled guilty to physical acts against the president may actually be able to get compensated. How absurd does that sound coming out of my mouth?" he added.

Senate Republicans were supposed to vote on funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has functioned without official funding for months, before leaving for the long weekend. But the White House threw lawmakers a curveball after attempting to tack legislation for the $1.776 billion fund onto ICE funding.

“I don’t like the fund at all,” Republican Senator John Curtis said Thursday.

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But Trump remained outraged on Truth Social, insisting he “gave up a lot of money” to help create the fund that he insists would help others.

“I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!” Trump wrote Friday.

The $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” emerged unusually. The Justice Department offered to create the fund in exchange for Trump, his adult sons and his business dropping a lawsuit against the IRS for his leaked tax returns. While the Trumps would not be permitted to claim relief through the fund, it would allow the president’s allies to obtain taxpayers’ money.

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