Former Vice President Mike Pence thinks Donald Trump should “drop” his designs on slush fund created in the president’s recent settlement with the IRS, calling the idea of compensating Jan. 6 rioters “deeply offensive.”
Pence shared his take on the Anti-Weaponization Fund during a visit with CBS‘s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. The nearly $1.8 billion fund would compensate people who feel they’ve been unfairly targeted by the Department of Justice. Pence, who was in the U.S. Capitol building as Trump’s supporters stormed it, felt that payouts for pardoned conspiracists was a bridge too far.
“I’ll never minimize what happened on January 6. I’ll always believe, by God’s grace, we did our duty that day… the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution,” he said. “This talk of a weaponization fund, the idea of creating a fund that could compensate people that assaulted police officers and vandalized the Capitol that day is totally unacceptable. My hope is the administration will drop it. Drop the idea entirely.”
Pence and Trump have traded barbs publicly since the chaotic end of the president’s first term. The one-time governor of Indiana has objected to cranks in Trump’s Cabinet and his aborted tariff scheme. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly called Pence weak for refusing to nullify the 2020 election. Trump reportedly warned Pence ahead of the certification that he would “go down as a wimp” if he didn’t overturn the results. Per reports from ex-special counsel Jack Smith, Trump then shrugged off threats to the VP’s life on Jan. 6.
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Speaking to NBC‘s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Pence called on Trump to “get rid of this fund.”
I mean, it’s deeply offensive to me that you could have a fund that could even possibly compensate people who assaulted police officers or vandalized the Capitol on January 6th. And I think that’s broadly held by most Republicans and most Americans.”
