Last week, (acting) Attorney General Todd Blanche said to a hearing of the House Appropriations Committee that there's no need for Congress to put any kind of limits on the big $1.776 billion slush fund he created to pay January 6 chuds for their service to the nation in trying to overthrow the government. No sirree, he said, "We're not moving forward with the fund," so you people can just stop talking about blocking it or limiting who can get money. The fund will be going away, for real, so there's nothing for Congress to limit, OK?

Of course, Blanche wasn't under oath for his testimony, and he refused to put any of that in writing, because why do members of Congress expect him to do the impossible? Anyway, the fund was officially very very dead, and by Friday, the Justice Department even promised a federal court that the deal to compensate "victims of weaponization" was so completely no longer a thing that the judge could go ahead and dismiss a lawsuit filed to stop the scheme. The DOJ even cited Blanche's statements to Congress to claim that the slush fund is no longer a thing. The fund "had not been set up and is now not going forward," DOJ lawyers wrote in a filing, so the lawsuit was now "moot and premature."

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But in a twist that absolutely everyone saw coming, the Atlantic reports (gift link) that administration insiders have "quietly assured allies that plans for some form of payout remain on track," according to "eight people familiar with the so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund" who spoke to reporter Sarah Fitzpatrick. The administration is simply trying to keep it as quiet as possible this time around, so the brave insurrectionists and cop-beaters of January 6 can get their payouts without interference from meddling courts, congressional committees, or those kids in the green van with the talking dog.

Those anonymous insiders -- who include "current and former Justice Department officials, current and former members of Congress, a defense attorney, and political operatives close to the administration" -- said that it's unclear whether the Cop-Bashers' Compensation Fund would be resurrected in part or in whole, or whether some sort of "alternative arrangements" might be made. But one way or another, the thugs will get the payout Trump thinks they deserve. Fitzpatrick's sources told her that

the work is being kept quiet while the Trump administration waits for opposition to the fund to blow over. Crucially, the administration is also trying to avoid a fight over the payout plan, which has been deemed a political slush fund by critics, while the Senate considers Blanche's nomination for attorney general.

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