2026年5月21日 / 美国东部时间晚上11:31 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻（CBS News）
作者：妮科尔·基利翁 国会通讯员
妮科尔·基利翁是驻华盛顿特区的CBS新闻国会通讯员，自2021年以来一直报道国会山的诸多重大事件。她还在CBS新闻2024年和2020年总统大选报道中发挥了关键作用，涵盖了特朗普、拜登和哈里斯的竞选团队。
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艾伦·赫，
易卜拉欣·阿克索伊 新闻助理
易卜拉欣·阿克索伊是驻华盛顿特区的《CBS早间新闻》新闻助理，负责报道全球新闻、美国政治和外交政策。加入CBS新闻之前，他曾为《华盛顿邮报》和中东研究所供稿。
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一些共和党参议员在周四与代理司法部长托德·布兰奇举行的紧张会面中，公开表达了对司法部新设立的“反武器化基金”的担忧。
“你可以说这是最后一刻扔出的曲线球，没人能接住，”阿拉巴马州参议员汤米·塔伯维尔在会后对记者说，他指的就是这笔补偿基金。
与会消息人士称，布兰奇未能就本周早些时候宣布的17.76亿美元司法部基金提供充分解答或澄清细节。该基金将向那些声称法律体系“武器化”针对自己的人提供纳税人资助的赔偿。这是特朗普总统与联邦政府达成的和解协议的一部分，用于解决他针对国税局和财政部泄露其纳税申报单的诉讼。
外界对该基金的运作方式以及谁可以从中获得拨款存在诸多疑问。司法部表示，该基金将由总检察长任命的五人委员会管理，其中一人“经与国会领导层协商”选出，且提交索赔申请没有党派要求。一些特朗普盟友和1月6日事件的被赦免者表示，他们可能会申请赔偿。
批评人士强烈反对这项和解协议，国会民主党人将其称为“分肥基金”，司法部对此予以反驳。
一位在场的共和党消息人士称，特朗普政府在最后一刻向议员们透露了该基金的消息，而且信息传递方式糟糕。该消息人士表示，政府似乎没有意识到公众对该基金的看法有多糟糕。
一名资深共和党助手表示，参议院原定于周五就拨款给边境巡逻队和移民海关执法局的法案进行投票，“若不是政府的行动，该法案本应已经通过……议员们都准备好投票了，直到司法部宣布反武器化基金”。
如今，国会即将进入休会期，直至下月，而该法案仍未获得通过。特朗普曾表示，他希望在6月1日前看到该法案摆在他的办公桌上。如果当时进行了投票，可能会引发大量与“反武器化基金”相关的令人尴尬的修正案和投票，包括关于谁有资格获得赔偿的投票。
“我不会谈论具体的修正案，”参议院少数党领袖查克·舒默在谈及民主党推动就和解法案进行投票的策略时说，“我们认为这种腐败极其恶劣，因此我们将尽一切所能通过和解程序来推翻它。”
这位共和党助手表示，在与布兰奇会面后，司法部还有很多问题需要解答。共和党议员感到沮丧，因为司法部“本不必在此时结案，也本不必宣布这项基金。政府需要解决议员们在这个问题上的关切”。
这位助手称，布兰奇被派往国会山解决其部门引发的问题，但他并未解决问题。
司法部发言人周四在一份声明中表示，此次会面包括“对和解方案的坦诚讨论”。
“[布兰奇]明确表示，周一宣布的反武器化基金与和解程序无关，事实上，总统在和解程序中寻求的资金中，没有一分钱会用于与该基金相关的任何事项，”发言人说，“我们将继续与参议院合作，批准关键的和解资金。”
CBS新闻已联系司法部，寻求其就此次会面发表进一步评论。
塔伯维尔告诉CBS新闻，布兰奇在周四的会面中告知议员，袭击执法人员的人不会从“反武器化基金”获得赔偿。布兰奇本周早些时候在参议院拨款小组委员会作证时，并未排除向因袭击警察而定罪的1月6日骚乱者支付赔偿的可能性。
“我们不会奖励袭击警察和当权者的人，”塔伯维尔说，他总体上支持该基金的构想，“[布兰奇]就是这么说的。”
缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯也告诉CBS新闻，她向布兰奇提出了这个问题，他似乎暗示袭击执法人员的人不会获得该基金的赔偿。尽管如此，她仍希望看到“具体措辞”，并从司法部获得更多澄清。
路易斯安那州参议员比尔·卡西迪是该补偿基金日益直言不讳的批评者之一，他在与布兰奇会面后似乎并未动摇。
“直觉告诉我这不对劲，如果不对劲，我们就不该这么做，”卡西迪对记者说。
肯塔基州参议员米奇·麦康奈尔因主持一场听证会未能出席此次会面，但他也抨击了司法部的这项基金。
“那么，美国最高执法官员居然要求设立一笔分肥基金，用于赔偿袭击警察的人？这完全是愚蠢之举，在道德上也是错误的——随便你怎么说，”麦康奈尔在给CBS新闻的一份声明中说。
这场围绕该基金的争议发生在特朗普干预一些参议院共和党议员的初选竞选之后。卡西迪上周末在特朗普支持其对手后输掉了初选，而参议员约翰·科宁正努力保住席位，以应对得克萨斯州总检察长肯·帕克斯顿的挑战，帕克斯顿本周早些时候也获得了特朗普的支持。得克萨斯州共和党人将于周二进行初选决选。
参议院多数党领袖、南达科他州议员约翰·图恩对记者表示，白宫与共和党议员之间的关系因特朗普驱赶卡西迪和科宁的政治努力而受到影响。
“我认为，很难将这里发生的任何事情与我们周围的政治氛围割裂开来，”图恩说，并补充道，“我们在这里做的每件事都有政治成分，所以没错，你无法将这些事情分开。”
图恩还表示，在该基金宣布之前，他并未被咨询过。
“如果他们当时进行了咨询就好了，我认为他们可能会从很多人那里得到大量建议，”他说，“但现在木已成舟，你知道，我们只能照单出牌，从这里开始解决问题。但显然，这条路比我们预期的更加复杂和坎坷。”
GOP senators press Blanche on “anti-weaponization fund” in tense meeting
May 21, 2026 / 11:31 PM EDT / CBS News
By
Nikole Killion Congressional Correspondent
Nikole Killion is a CBS News congressional correspondent based in Washington D.C., who has covered some of the biggest stories on Capitol Hill since 2021. Killion has also served a key role in CBS News’ election coverage during the 2024 and 2020 presidential races covering the Trump, Biden, and Harris campaigns.
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Alan He,
Ibrahim Aksoy News Associate
Ibrahim Aksoy is a news associate for “CBS Mornings” based in Washington, D.C. He covers global news, U.S. politics and foreign policy. Before joining CBS News, he contributed to The Washington Post and the Middle East Institute.
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Some Republican senators openly expressed their concerns about the Justice Department’s new “anti-weaponization fund” in a tense meeting Thursday with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
“You could call it a curveball right at the end, and nobody could hit it,” Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville told reporters after the meeting, in reference to the compensation fund.
Sources inside the meeting say Blanche did not provide adequate answers or clarity about the $1.776 billion Justice Department fund announced earlier this week, which will provide taxpayer-funded payouts to people who allege the legal system has been “weaponized” against them. It’s part of an agreement between President Trump and the federal government to settle his lawsuit against the IRS and Treasury Department over the leak of his tax returns.
There are major questions about how the fund will operate and who might receive payments from it. The Justice Department has said the fund will be administered by a commission of five people appointed by the attorney general, one of whom will be chosen “in consultation with congressional leadership,” and there will not be any partisan requirements to file claims. Some Trump allies and pardoned Jan. 6 defendants have said they may apply.
Critics have blasted the settlement agreement, with congressional Democrats casting it as a “slush fund,” which the Justice Department has pushed back on.
One GOP source who was in the room said the Trump administration dropped the news of the fund on lawmakers at the last minute — and with bad messaging. The source said the administration does not seem to grasp how poorly the public views it.
A senior Republican aide said that a bill to fund Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement that the Senate was supposed to vote on Friday “would have been passed, if not for the actions of the administration. … Members were ready to vote until the DOJ anti-weaponization fund announcement.”
Now, Congress is going into recess until next month without passing the measure, which Mr. Trump had said he wanted to see on his desk by June 1. If voting had gone forward, it may have opened the floodgates for a number of uncomfortable amendments and votes related to the “anti-weaponization fund,” including on who would be eligible to receive payouts.
“I’m not going to get into the specific amendments,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said of Democrats’ strategy to force votes on the reconciliation bill. “We felt that this corruption was so vile that we were going to do everything we can in reconciliation to try to get it undone.”
The GOP aide said after the meeting with Blanche that the Justice Department still has a lot of questions to answer. Republican senators are frustrated because the department “didn’t need to settle the case when they did and didn’t need to announce this fund. The administration needs to address member issues on this.”
Blanche was sent to the Hill to fix the problem his department caused, and didn’t fix it, the aide said.
In a statement Thursday, a Justice Department spokesperson said the meeting included “a healthy discussion on the settlement.”
“[Blanche] made clear that the Anti-Weaponization Fund announced Monday has nothing to do with reconciliation, indeed not a single dime from the money the President is seeking in reconciliation would go toward anything having to do with the Fund,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to work with the Senate to get critical reconciliation funds approved.”
CBS News has reached out to the Justice Department for further comment on the meeting.
Tuberville told CBS News that Blanche told lawmakers during Thursday’s meeting that people who assaulted law enforcement would not be compensated under the “anti-weaponization fund.” Blanche did not rule out allowing payouts for Jan. 6 rioters convicted of attacking police when he testified before a Senate appropriations subcommittee earlier this week.
“We’re not going to reward people that attack policemen and people of authority,” said Tuberville, who generally supports the idea of the fund. “[Blanche] said that.”
GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine also told CBS News that she raised the issue with Blanche and he seemed to suggest people who assaulted law enforcement would not receive settlements from the fund. Still, she wants to see “language” and more clarity from the Justice Department.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who has become an increasingly vocal critic of the compensation fund, appeared unswayed by the meeting with Blanche.
“The kind of gut reaction is that’s not right, and if it’s not right, we shouldn’t be doing it,” Cassidy told reporters.
Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell did not attend the meeting due to a hearing that he was chairing but also panned the DOJ fund.
“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,” McConnell said in a statement provided to CBS News.
The controversy over the fund comes after Mr. Trump intervened in some Senate Republicans’ primary campaigns. Cassidy lost his primary last weekend after Mr. Trump endorsed his opponent, and Sen. John Cornyn is fighting to save his seat from a challenge mounted by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, also endorsed by Mr. Trump earlier this week. Texas Republicans will vote in a primary runoff on Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota suggested to reporters that the dynamic between the White House and Republican senators has been hampered by the president’s efforts to drive out Cassidy and Cornyn.
“I think it’s hard to divorce anything that happens here from what’s happening in the political atmosphere around us,” Thune said, adding, “There’s a political component to everything we do around here, so yeah, you can’t disconnect those things.”
Thune also said he was not consulted on the fund before it was announced.
“It would be nice if they had consulted, and I think they probably would have gotten plenty of advice from lots of folks about it,” he said. “But it’s water under the bridge now, and you know, you play the hand you’re dealt, and we’ll sort it out from here. But you know, obviously, it became a more complicated and bumpy path than we had hoped for.”
