'Stupid on stilts' - Trump's investigation compensation fund draws ire of Republicans

"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."

— Mitch McConnell , Politician

"It will invariably put us in a position where your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned, and now we're going to pay them for that? That's absurd."

— Thom Tillis , Politician

"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."

— Mitch McConnell , Politician

"It will invariably put us in a position where your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned, and now we're going to pay them for that? That's absurd."

— Thom Tillis , Politician

"I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward."

— Donald Trump , Politician

"This is kind of a perfect storm."

— Jeff Flake , Politician

"The fund is unexplainable."

— Kevin Cramer , Politician

"The fund should be in real trouble."

— Susan Collins , Politician

"The fund is utterly stupid and morally wrong."

— Mitch McConnell , Politician

"I opposed using billions of taxpayer dollars to compensate convicted felons and thugs who attacked police."

— Thom Tillis , Politician

"I'm just gonna say I don't have a lot of information. But I will say: On first blush, it doesn't pass the smell test."

— John Curtis , Politician

"I'm not a big fan of the fund's creation, noting it will likely be subject to scrutiny by congressional appropriators."

— John Thune , Politician

"Conceptually, I understand what he's trying to do, but I don't know."

— Lindsey Graham , Politician

"This has happened before in a Democrat administration, so I'm not sure you should be surprised that there's justice for people that have had the government weaponized against them."

— Chuck Grassley , Politician

"This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump."

— Jamie Raskin , Politician

"I '100%' wants to prevent the nearly $1.8 billion fund that could compensate Trump’s allies from moving forward."

— Brian Fitzpatrick , Politician

"My assumption is that, based on some of the blowback that’s come since this was announced, that there would be a significant amount of attention paid to it."

— John Thune , Politician

"pressing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for more details in a Senate hearing."

— Susan Collins , Politician

"we don’t know any of the details of that settlement fund."

— Mike Johnson , Politician

"I don’t know anything about it. I haven’t seen it yet. I don’t know what it is legislatively."

— Tom Cole , Politician

"It's called lawfare, it's called weaponisation of justice, and it's happened at a level that nobody's ever seen before."

— Donald Trump , Politician

"That is pure theft of public funds."

— Chris Van Hollen , Politician

"Republicans can apply for it, Democrats can apply for it."

— JD Vance , Politician

"I'd be more shocked if you did not put them on."

— Jack Reed , Politician