How a Republican revolt killed off Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund

Summary

Podcast Summary: Apple News Today

Episode: How a Republican revolt killed off Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund
Date: June 3, 2026
Guest Host: Gideon Resnick (in for Shumita Basu)

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Episode Theme

This episode focuses on the abrupt reversal by the Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding President Trump’s proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, the intense pushback from Republican lawmakers that halted it, and the continuing tensions over Trump’s latest appointment to lead the U.S. intelligence community. Additional topics include an NBA Finals rematch, key developments in national security and foreign policy, and new research into weight-loss drugs.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Collapse of Trump’s “Anti-Weaponization” Fund

• What happened: The DOJ announced it would not move forward with the $1.8 billion fund intended to compensate those claiming political prosecution by the government.
  • "The reasons for the fund I think remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fundamentals."
    — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, House Committee Hearing ([00:43])
• Republican Revolt: Unusually fierce opposition from Republican senators, who were concerned the fund would pay out to individuals convicted and later pardoned over the January 6 Capitol riot.
• Legal roadblock: A federal judge blocked implementation, further dooming the initiative.
• No Fund Established:
  • "To the extent there was a fund, and remember, the fund wasn't set up yet... Yes, we're not moving forward with the fund."
    — Todd Blanche ([01:13])

Notable Quote

"A number of them had said they refused to advance a major immigration bill without big changes to the fund."
— Gideon Resnick ([02:33])

2. Details of IRS Settlement with Trump

• The fund sprang from Trump’s lawsuit settlement with the IRS.
• Controversial Clause: The agreement prevents audits into past tax returns from Trump or his family, which drew Democratic accusations of conflict of interest.
• Blanche’s Defense:
  • "It's not immunity... It's standard to get rid of past ongoing audits... It's nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future."
    — Todd Blanche ([02:05])

3. Fallout for Immigration Legislation

• Senate Majority Leader John Thune highlighted how deeply the fund issue complicated the passage of a major immigration bill.
  • "Everything comes down to a function of math… Have the votes… Because we have to have Republicans hanging together in order to do that."
    — John Thune ([02:52])
• Some GOP senators, notably Thom Tillis, want to ensure the fund cannot be resurrected.
  • Mention of a proposed amendment to block its future reinstatement ([03:21]).

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4. Trump’s Appointment of Bill Pulte as Acting DNI

• Background: Bill Pulte, previously a housing regulator, is appointed as acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI) despite lacking intelligence or military experience.

  • "Mr. Pulte's single major qualification… appears to be his loyalty to the president."
    — Jonathan Landay, Reuters ([00:18])

• Controversial Record: As head of Federal Housing Finance Agency, Pulte led politically charged mortgage fraud investigations against Trump’s opponents, never yielding criminal charges ([03:41]).

• Criticism from Both Parties:

  • Senator Bill Cassidy:
    "He doesn't have experience in intelligence. He doesn't have an experience in the military. It's not clear that he has a security clearance..." ([04:32])
  • Senator John Cornyn and Thom Tillis also express concern over qualifications and past actions ([04:43], [04:50]).
  • Jonathan Landay (Reuters): Law requires DNI nominees to have "extensive experience in national security," which Pulte lacks ([05:22]).

• Previous DNI’s Controversy: Tulsi Gabbard, the outgoing DNI, had been accused of using the office as part of "the retribution machine that President Trump has been using to go after his perceived political enemies." ([06:01])

• Senate Prospects:

  • Pulte can serve as acting DNI for up to 210 days without confirmation, but Senate Majority Leader Thune remains noncommittal:
    "We don't need a weaponized DNI." ([06:49])

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5. NBA Finals Rematch — Knicks vs. Spurs

• Historical context: Rematch of the 1999 NBA Finals—Knicks' first return since then.
• Key Players: San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama (7'4”, rising superstar), Knicks' Jalen Brunson (MVP-caliber).
• Tim Reynolds (AP Sports Writer):
  • "What we've watched in these playoffs is a young man go from star to superstar to possibly even icon." ([07:39])
  • Spurs’ defense led by Wembanyama: "He's the best defensive player in the world… He has met every moment." ([07:56])
  • Knicks' unprecedented playoff dominance: "There's never been a stretch in 80 years… where a team has won 11 consecutive games by more points… than what the Knicks are doing right now." ([08:41])

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6. Additional Noteworthy Headlines

• January 6 Convict in Pentagon Counterterrorism

• Elias Irizarry, pardoned by Trump, is now working in Pentagon’s counterterrorism, drawing new scrutiny ([10:07]-[10:41]).

• Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Iran Talks

• Testified before Congress on conditions for sanction relief and requirements for progress in nuclear negotiations:
  • "Any sanctions relief is condition based, which means it has to be in return for the reason why those sanctions were put in place in the first place, which is their nuclear program." ([11:09])

• Neuroscientific Research on GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs

• Washington Post report: GLP-1s may change brain activity in ways that could potentially aid cognition and addiction ([11:34]-[12:10]).

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On DNI appointment:
  "The law that created the Director of National Intelligence requires that the nominee have extensive experience in national security issues. Bill Pulte is the founder of a private equity firm…"
  — Jonathan Landay, Reuters ([05:22])

• On Knicks' momentum:
  "Our mentality is in the right place at the right time and we just gotta stay focused and keep learning."
  — Jalen Brunson, Knicks point guard ([09:02])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:43] DOJ reverses on anti-weaponization fund
• [01:21] Fund officially dead—details and Q&A in Congress
• [02:05] House Democrats, immunity concerns, Blanche’s defense
• [02:52] Sen. John Thune on legislative math
• [03:37] Trump loyalist Bill Pulte’s DNI appointment
• [04:32] Senator Cassidy questions Pulte’s qualifications
• [06:49] Thune: “We don’t need a weaponized DNI”
• [07:39] NBA Finals preview, Wembanyama rising star
• [10:07] Pardoned January 6 participant’s Pentagon role
• [11:09] Secretary Rubio on Iran sanctions
• [11:41] Science update: GLP-1s and brain function

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Summary

This episode delivers a comprehensive update on how rare Republican opposition derailed a Trump-backed DOJ fund intended to compensate alleged victims of government “weaponization,” while highlighting the ripple effects on immigration legislation and intra-party fractures over key nominations. The episode also covers a much-anticipated NBA Finals rematch, new Pentagon personnel raising security questions, diplomatic efforts with Iran, and emerging medical science that may change how doctors use weight-loss drugs. With a mix of insider quotes and clear context, the episode is a must-listen for those tracking U.S. politics, security, and sports.

Transcript

[Gideon Resnick]

Good morning. The so called anti weaponization fund is

[Apple News Host]

no more as the DOJ bows to pressure from Republican lawmakers.

[Gideon Resnick]

But as Reuters explains, Trump's new pick to lead the intelligence agencies has kept

[Apple News Host]

tensions with his party high.

[Jonathan Landay]

Mr. Pulte's single major qualification for being named by the President appears to be his loyalty to the president.

[Gideon Resnick]

And tonight, it's an NBA Finals rematch

[Apple News Host]

years in the making.

[Gideon Resnick]

It's Wednesday, June 3rd. Third, I'm Gideon Resnick in for Shamita Basu.

[Apple News Host]

This is Apple News. Today.

[Gideon Resnick]

It took just over two weeks for

[Apple News Host]

a massive reversal from the Justice Department.

[Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche]

The reasons for the fund is something that President Trump talked about for a long time, which is the fact that there were a lot of people in this country who had their government weaponized against them. The reasons for the fund I think remain as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fundamentals.

[Gideon Resnick]

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's remarks at

[Apple News Host]

a House committee hearing yesterday brought an end to a short lived attempt to set up what the DOJ was calling an anti weaponization fund.

[Interviewer or Reporter]

Not moving forward ever, Correct. Oh, there's no more fund then?

[Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche]

Well, to the extent there was a fund, and remember, the fund wasn't set up yet. There were no commissioners named, there was no claims made yet. So, yes, we're not moving forward with the fund.

[Gideon Resnick]

The roughly $1.8 billion fund emerged from

[Apple News Host]

President Trump's lawsuit settlement with the IRS.

[Gideon Resnick]

It was billed as a way to

[Apple News Host]

offer payouts for people who claimed that they had been prosecuted for political reasons.

[Gideon Resnick]

A federal judge recently blocked its implementation

[Apple News Host]

and it received unusually fierce pushback from Republicans who worried the fund would have paid out money to people who had been convicted and later pardoned as part of the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

[Gideon Resnick]

But another controversial part of the IRS

[Apple News Host]

settlement would be staying. Blanche confirmed yesterday the deal that he signed off on prevents any audits into the past tax returns from the president or his family.

[Gideon Resnick]

House Democrats accused Blanche of a conflict

[Apple News Host]

of interest and suggested the agreement gave the President a form of immunity.

[Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche]

It's not immunity. Okay, so it's not immunity. What it says is like anytime the IRS settles with an individual taxpayer or another company as part of the settlement, it's standard. It's typical to get rid of past ongoing audits. It's not a forward looking document. It's nothing that gives any sort of immunity in the future to the president or his family or his organizations. And so by you saying that, it's just, it's not true.

[Gideon Resnick]

The administration's retreat on the fund marked a rare moment where Senate Republicans stood

[Apple News Host]

up to the White House and the White House blinked. A number of them had said they refused to advance a major immigration bill without big changes to the fund.

[Gideon Resnick]

Earlier in the day, Senate Majority Leader

[Apple News Host]

John Thune said that he had been assured that the fund was definitely on

[Gideon Resnick]

the way out, but he cautioned that

[Apple News Host]

there would still be work to do to get the immigration bill over the line.

[Senate Majority Leader John Thune]

We're continuing to have conversations with our members. I think, as I've conveyed to you before, everything comes down to a function of math. Have the votes, do we have 50 votes to execute on getting a bill like that across the floor? Because we have to have Republicans hanging together in order to do that.

[Gideon Resnick]

Politico reports that it's not an entirely done deal yet. Some Republican senators still had some follow up questions, but if issues can get

[Apple News Host]

resolved in time, there could be a vote on the immigration bill as soon as Wednesday.

[Gideon Resnick]

At least one of those senators, Thom Tillis, said that he wants to introduce

[Apple News Host]

an amendment to ensure that the fund can never come back in the future.

[Gideon Resnick]

He's gone from being the housing regulator

[Apple News Host]

to the highest ranking intelligence official in the country.

[Gideon Resnick]

But President Trump's decision to appoint loyalist Bill Pulte to the role of acting

[Apple News Host]

Director of National Intelligence is already facing plenty of scrutiny.

[Gideon Resnick]

As head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Pulte drove mortgage fraud investigations into opponents of Trump, including Fed Governor Lisa

[Apple News Host]

Cook and Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.

[Gideon Resnick]

None of his probes amounted to successful

[Apple News Host]

criminal charges, and critics accused him of pushing baseless accusations for political reasons.

[Gideon Resnick]

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described him

[Apple News Host]

as a partisan thug.

[Gideon Resnick]

Now, some GOP senators, especially those on their way out, are also questioning why

[Apple News Host]

a man with no intelligence experience would be chosen to oversee the vast bureaucracies of the CIA, the National Security Agency and a host of other agencies.

[Gideon Resnick]

Yesterday, the departing Republican Senator, Bill Cassidy

[Apple News Host]

said Pulte did not seem qualified.

[Senator Bill Cassidy]

He doesn't have an experience in intelligence. He doesn't have an experience in the military. It's not clear that he has a security clearance. Now, I may be wrong, but that's just what I'm hearing from colleagues who are expressing concern.

[Gideon Resnick]

That view was shared by John Cornyn, the Republican senator who recently lost a

[Apple News Host]

Texas primary to a Trump backed challenger.

[Gideon Resnick]

And the retiring Senator Thom Tillis criticized

[Apple News Host]

Pulte's mortgage probes as a, quote, waste of time and money.

[Gideon Resnick]

The DNI role came about in the wake of 911 to better coordinate the

[Apple News Host]

work of agencies in the intelligence community, including the CIA and nsa.

[Jonathan Landay]

It has been, since its creation, supposed to have been and has sought to act as an impartial coordinator of intelligence.

[Gideon Resnick]

Jonathan Landay is a national security correspondent with Reuters.

[Apple News Host]

He explains just how unusual Pulte's appointment was.

[Jonathan Landay]

The law that created the Director of National Intelligence requires that the nominee have extensive experience in national security issues. Bill Pulte is the founder of a private equity firm. He comes from a family that had a business or has a business, the Pulte Group, in constructing residential developments.

[Gideon Resnick]

The current occupant, Tulsi Gabbard, was a

[Apple News Host]

combat veteran and served on House intelligence committees.

[Gideon Resnick]

She also proved to be controversial, backing efforts to relitigate Trump's 2020 loss to President Biden and accusing President Obama of

[Apple News Host]

being implicated in a, quote, treasonous conspiracy.

[Jonathan Landay]

A lot of critics, Democratic senators, and former senior intelligence officials have accused her of using her position and the agency that she runs, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as part of the retribution machine that President Trump has been using to go after his perceived political enemies.

[Gideon Resnick]

The White House denies this and says it was previous administrations who politicized intelligence

[Apple News Host]

through their investigations into Trump.

[Gideon Resnick]

The president posted that Pulte had what

[Apple News Host]

he called deep experience in managing the most sensitive matters in America.

[Gideon Resnick]

From his housing role, Pulte can remain

[Apple News Host]

in his Post as acting DNI for 210 days before needing Senate confirmation.

[Gideon Resnick]

That might be a tall order. Speaking to reporters, Senate Majority Leader John

[Apple News Host]

Thune declined to support him, telling reporters that, quote, we don't need a weaponized dni.

[Gideon Resnick]

The New York Knicks and the San Antonio spurs face off in the NBA

[Apple News Host]

Finals tonight in a rematch from 1999,

[Sports Commentator]

the San Antonio spurs have won their first NBA championship.

[Gideon Resnick]

It's the Knicks first trip back to

[Apple News Host]

the final since losing that game.

[Gideon Resnick]

And to pull it off this time, they'll have to go through the French

[Apple News Host]

phenom Victor Wembanyama, who anchors the Spurs.

[Gideon Resnick]

If you haven't seen him play, he's

[Apple News Host]

a huge court presence at 7 foot 4. Though some have speculated that is even underselling it, many consider him the next NBA megastar.

[Gideon Resnick]

And Associated Press national sports writer Tim

[Apple News Host]

Reynolds is one of them.

[Tim Reynolds]

I think what we've watched in these playoffs is a young man go from star to superstar to possibly even icon.

[Gideon Resnick]

Reynolds spoke with us about the strengths

[Apple News Host]

that each team will bring to the court.

[Gideon Resnick]

And for the spurs, it's unsurprisingly all about Wembanyama.

[Tim Reynolds]

He's the best defensive player in the world. He has shown so many times in these playoffs that when he wants to be dominant on the offensive end, he chooses to be that as well. He has met every moment.

[Gideon Resnick]

He's only 22 years old, part of a Spurs roster that is quite young

[Apple News Host]

but pushing themselves through hard battles in the playoffs.

[Tim Reynolds]

I love the toughness of their guards, Devin Vassell, Stephon Cassell. These guys are playing so much older than they are.

[Gideon Resnick]

Wembanyama acknowledged yesterday that many of the

[Apple News Host]

Knicks players have been at this longer.

[Jalen Brunson]

It's a great team, you know, it's a great team of experienced guys who are not here by chance but by relentless effort over the years, reynolds said.

[Gideon Resnick]

That effort has resulted in a huge

[Apple News Host]

wave of confidence for the Knicks right now.

[Tim Reynolds]

There's never been a stretch in 80 years of NBA basketball where a team has won 11 consecutive games by more points, regular season or playoffs than what the Knicks are doing right now.

[Gideon Resnick]

They are led by Jalen Brunson, an MVP caliber point guard who spoke to the media yesterday about the level of

[Apple News Host]

intensity and focus that brought the team

[Jalen Brunson]

here when it came to games. We kept getting better and better and so I think our mentality is in the right place at the right time and we just gotta be stay focused and keep learning.

[Apple News Host]

These teams took two very different paths to the finals.

[Gideon Resnick]

The Knicks swept the Cleveland Cavaliers in

[Apple News Host]

the Eastern Conference finals, so they got more time to rest heading into this series, whereas the spurs are coming in after a knockdown drag out seven game series against the defending champs, the Oklahoma City Funder.

[Tim Reynolds]

I think from the Knicks standpoint there's going to be a clear sense of urgency to take advantage of this stage for the spurs because so many of them are so young. I wonder if it will be creeping into their heads. You know, we're here, we've made it. This is going to be the first of many for us. I wonder if they'll have that same urgency. I still think the spurs will win the series. I just think there's something about this team and that's why I give them a slight edge. I say spurs in seven.

[Apple News Host]

And to a few other stories we're following. A man convicted for participating in the

[Gideon Resnick]

January 6th insurrection is now working inside the Pentagon doing counterterrorism work that involves highly classified government information. That's according to exclusive reporting by the

[Apple News Host]

Washington Post, who spoke with sources close to the matter.

[Gideon Resnick]

Elias Irizarry will work in an office

[Apple News Host]

that oversees operations like embassy security, personnel

[Gideon Resnick]

recovery and hostage rescue, or as insiders

[Apple News Host]

put it to the Post, some of the most complex and dangerous environments the

[Gideon Resnick]

Pentagon operates in Irizarry, was 19 years old when he participated in the attack on the Capitol. He pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge

[Apple News Host]

and later apologized for his role before being pardoned by President Trump. He did not respond to the Post's requests for comment.

[Gideon Resnick]

Staying in Washington Secretary of State Marco

[Apple News Host]

Rubio publicly testified in Congress yesterday for the first time since the war in Iran began.

[Gideon Resnick]

He outlined what the administration was looking

[Apple News Host]

for in an eventual deal with Iran, saying the regime needed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and commit to future talks on its nuclear program before the US Would lift a blockade or ease financial sanctions.

[Secretary of State Marco Rubio]

Any sanctions relief is condition based, which means it has to be in return for the reason why those sanctions were put in place in the first place, which is their nuclear program.

[Gideon Resnick]

He also said that the new supreme

[Apple News Host]

leader is increasingly engaged on negotiations, though there remain tensions within the regime, and

[Gideon Resnick]

Rubio said the bureaucratic layers involved in

[Apple News Host]

Iran's decision making was slowing the process down. He is set to continue testimony today.

[Gideon Resnick]

And finally, it was a drug designed

[Apple News Host]

to help people lose weight, but it's now potentially also altering their brains.

[Gideon Resnick]

The Washington Post has an interesting look

[Apple News Host]

at scientists examining the impact of GLP1s on the brain.

[Gideon Resnick]

A University of Colorado study that looked

[Apple News Host]

at brain scans of women who had taken GLP1s found an increase in brain regions that are involved in attention and processing important stimuli.

[Gideon Resnick]

One leading theory as to how and

[Apple News Host]

why this is happening is that the drugs might target inflammation in the brain.

[Gideon Resnick]

And while the studies are in their early phase, scientists say it could mean

[Apple News Host]

that GLP1s might eventually help with things

[Gideon Resnick]

like cognition and addiction. You can find all these stories and

[Apple News Host]

more in the Apple News app.

[Gideon Resnick]

And if you're already listening in the News app right now, we've got a

[Apple News Host]

narrated article coming up next.

[Gideon Resnick]

Bloomberg Businessweek reports on the remarkable turnaround

[Apple News Host]

for bookseller Barnes and Noble and how its new CEO rescued the chain by ditching corporate rules.

[Gideon Resnick]

If you're listening in the podcast app, you can follow Apple News Narrated to find that story and we'll be back

[Apple News Host]

with the news tomorrow.