Murdoch Paper Pleads With Republicans to Kill One of Trump’s ‘Worst’ Ideas

The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board is urging Republicans to “kill” President Donald Trump’s so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund” once and for all.

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The Trump administration announced Monday it was abandoning the slush fund after it was temporarily blocked by a federal judge—but did so with the caveat that it was only “dead for now.”

The fund—first revealed by the Justice Department last month—was granted to Trump as part of a friendly settlement after he sued the IRS for $10 billion over leaked tax documents.

The settlement came before the judge overseeing the suit even decided whether it was valid.

The White House claimed the fund would be divied out to those who were unfairly targeted by the federal government, but critics sounded the alarm that it would be used as a personal slush fund by Trump to pay out allies and his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

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Two senior administration officials told Axios that after the setback in court, the administration was abandoning the plan. One called it “dead for now.”

But that “for now” is what concerns the Journal’s editorial board. It writes that Trump’s whims could reinvigorate a desire for the fund and that the best thing “would be for Congress to put a stake through it.”

While Trump “was wronged by the IRS contractor who stole and leaked his tax records in 2019” during his first administration, the Board lamented that he failed to file a claim during the four years Joe Biden was president, instead waiting until he returned to the Oval Office.

The Journal wrote that the optics of Congress killing Trump’s slush fund would be beneficial for the government’s public image.