Republican Representative Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania stated on Friday that President Donald Trump’s new anti-weaponization fund is being unfairly attacked by Democrats and the media despite a similar fund having been established during the Obama administration.
In an interview, Meuser described the fund as created as part of a settlement tied to allegations that Trump supporters and other Americans were unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, the IRS, and the Justice Department.
“The president could have just continued his lawsuit and said, ‘Hey, I’m going to sue you for whatever it was, $3 billion,’ and probably won and kept the money himself,” he explained. “Instead, he set up this fund to make reparations, if you will, to those who were also wronged by the Biden White House and the IRS and the Justice Department at the time to submit claims for some of that funding.”
Meuser argued that critics are portraying the fund as improper or unprecedented when similar compensation programs existed under Democratic administrations.
“ heating up,” he said. “But, you know, the Democrats and the media are just kicking it up.”
The Pennsylvania Republican cited an Obama-era fund totaling roughly $770 million that operated in a similar fashion but with far less scrutiny from the press or Democrats in Congress.
“This is not unprecedented,” Meuser added. “The Obama administration had an exactly same – $770 million, I believe – similar slush fund that was used in a much worse way: a very targeted way where he controlled every dollar of that $770 million, even when claims did not come in.”
According to Meuser, the Obama administration used the money for reparations tied to allegations that the federal government discriminated against members of a Native American tribe.
“People need to look this up,” he said. “That happened: they went out for reparations based on the federal government being racist toward an American Indian tribe. So, this is not unprecedented.”
Meuser also noted that Republicans are attempting to stay focused on advancing their legislative agenda despite what he called politically manufactured controversy surrounding the fund.
“It’s a lot of controversy when we’re trying to accomplish things here,” Meuser stated.
