Ted Cruz says Todd Blanche faced shouting during ‘fiery’ anti-weaponization fund briefing

WASHINGTON, DC: Screaming, yelling, and accusations of self-dealing were what acting Attorney General Todd Blanche faced, according to Ted Cruz, during a closed-door briefing on the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund. 

The 55-year-old Texas Senator, on his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz, described the meeting as “one of the roughest meetings I’ve seen in my entire time in the Senate.”

"There were fireworks at an epic level," Cruz said Friday on his podcast. "Fiery does not begin to cut it."

Senate Republicans met with Todd Blanche on Thursday to discuss the controversial fund, a tense meeting that ultimately helped derail a Republican-backed bill aimed at boosting funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, according to NBC News.

The fund was unveiled last week after President Trump announced he would withdraw his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, along with other claims tied to the 2022 Mar-a-Lago search and allegations surrounding the 2016 Russian collusion investigation.

Cruz warns Trump administration could face major showdown

Cruz said several Republican lawmakers warned the proposal would be nearly impossible to defend politically, arguing that it appeared Trump had essentially “cut a deal with himself.”

“There were multiple senators yelling at the attorney general, saying this feels like self-dealing. I got to tell you, the Republican senators were p***** – people were the entire meeting,”

They were screaming at the acting attorney general, and he was trying to lay out the legal basis,” Cruz said, adding that “the legal basis is quite sound.”

Cruz also insisted that roughly half of the Republicans were ready to join Democrats in supporting amendments to restrict the fund if the Senate had moved forward Thursday night with a planned series of votes on the ICE and Border Patrol funding package.

“The degree of the jailbreak of Republicans who were bolting, who were saying we’re going to vote with the Democrats,” he warned.

Cruz warned the administration could face a major showdown when lawmakers return to Washington if changes are not made to modify the fund.

“If the administration doesn’t fix this,” he said, “they’ve got a full-on revolt in the Senate.”

Trump defends DOJ ‘anti-weaponization’ fund

A number of Republican lawmakers can forward to oppose the fund, with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, calling it a “payout pot for punks,” pointing to the possibility that people convicted in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot could potentially receive compensation.

“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops? Utterly stupid, morally wrong — Take your pick,” former Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) also stated.

Amid the push back, President Trump himself defended the fund saying, “I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward.”

“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,” he continued in a Truth Social post.

“Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!” the president added.