The rare rebuke of Trump demonstrated some Republicans' increased willingness to flex their political power against the president, particularly after his endorsement of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over incumbent Senator John Cornyn ahead of a crucial midterm election.
The proposal was dropped as senators returned to Washington after their Memorial Day break and faced an impasse with the president over a $US72 billion bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol operations.
Speaking to reporters, Senate Majority Leader John Thune said he made clear to the White House the fund needed to be killed.
"They gave us an ultimatum," a White House source said, describing how Republican politicians negotiated with the White House over the fund. The White House's goal is to speed passage of the funding package, said the source, who like other sources spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The Republican rebellion was an extraordinary act of defiance given Trump's insistence on loyalty and his threats to back primary candidates against those who do not toe the line.
The fund emerged from a legal settlement between Trump and the Justice Department to resolve an unprecedented $US10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the alleged mishandling of his tax records. The $US1.776 billion was meant to pay people who said they had been the subject of government abuse.
The fund sparked swift legal challenges and political uproar, including from Senate Republicans, who expressed anger that people who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, could receive taxpayer-funded payouts. Critics condemned it as a slush fund.
On Friday, federal judges in Virginia and Florida issued orders that temporarily halted the fund until June 12 and called for further review, respectively.
In a statement on Monday, a Justice Department spokesperson said the DOJ "disagrees strongly" with those decisions but, "the Department will abide by the Court's ruling."
The Justice Department statement did not commit to abandoning the fund entirely, only to following the court ruling pausing the fund that is likely to expire this month.
A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately address whether the fund had been permanently scuttled.
Since taking over as acting attorney general in April, Todd Blanche has moved quickly to prosecute Trump's perceived enemies as he seeks to secure the job on a permanent basis. The department secured criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey, ramped up its investigation into former CIA Director John Brennan and removed press releases from its website about prosecutions of rioters who attacked the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
But the backlash over the fund may represent the stiffest challenge yet to his bid to win the job permanently, raising questions over whether he can earn Senate approval if Trump names him as attorney general.
with AP
