June 2, 2026

TACO Trump is backing off from his plan to establish a $1.8 billion fund to compensate people like the Jan. 6th thugs who claimed they were victims of "unfair prosecution by the government," two people familiar with the matter told the New York Times yesterday.

The people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the president’s thinking, said he had been leaning for days toward scrapping the fund, which critics have characterized as a scheme to reward Trump’s political allies with public benefits.

The administration signaled a retreat on Monday, when the Justice Department said in a statement that it would abide by a federal judge’s temporary order not to proceed with any steps to activate the fund until at least June 12, when a hearing on the fund is scheduled. The department said the administration disagreed with the decision but did not make clear whether it intended to fight the issue further in court.

It was unclear whether getting rid of the fund would affect another part of the legal settlement in the case, which provides Mr. Trump, his family and his businesses with significant immunity from audits.

Translation: He doesn't have the votes.

BREAKING: The Trump administration plans to drop its $1.776 billion compensation fund amid bipartisan backlash, a senior White House official says

MS NOW (@ms.now) 2026-06-01T19:51:41Z

@normeisen.bsky.social: “Heinous slush fund”

Former Obama ethics czar Norm Eisen joins The Weeknight after @ms.now confirms the White House plans to drop its controversial compensation fund.

The Weeknight on MS NOW (@weeknightmsnow.bsky.social) 2026-06-02T03:03:14.330Z

"The bigger issue is that there are very few Republicans, very few, who want to go out into swing districts and campaign on this or have to answer for it," says NPR's Tamara Keith about a $1.8 billion compensation fund for Trump supporters. https://to.pbs.org/3RGx3wM

PBS News (@pbsnews.org) 2026-06-02T01:26:01.887626724Z

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