Todd Blanche kills last remaining hopes for Trump's $1.776 billion slush fund

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche dashed any remaining hopes that the Trump administration would move forward with its plan to create a $1.776 billion so-called "anti-weaponization" fund to pay claims to people who say they were wrongfully prosecuted by the government.

"We are not moving forward with the fund," Blanche told the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.

Last week, the Trump administration proposed creating an anti-weaponization fund as part of a settlement agreement with the IRS over a case stemming from the 2019 leak of Trump's tax returns.

The fund faced immediate and intense criticism from Democrats and Republicans after multiple of Trump's allies said they would seek payments from the fund.

CNN's Paula Reid, the network's chief legal affairs correspondent, described Blanche's statements as an "interesting about-face" during a segment on Tuesday's broadcast of "The Arena."