Joy Behar unloaded on the Trump administration’s $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” on Thursday, comparing potential payouts to Jan. 6 rioters to compensating the Manson family for their crimes.
“This guy, the former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio — who directed the Proud Boys to assault the government — he received a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy, and he expects to get between $2 million and $5 million in compensation,” Behar said on The View. “What about the Manson family? Why don’t we give them money?”
The DOJ announced the fund on Monday as part of a settlement after Trump dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund would provide “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
Behar, a co-host on the ABC daytime talk show, wasn’t buying it — and drew a sharp contrast to a 2020 controversy.
“I remember Republicans were big mad that Kamala Harris tweeted out that people should give money to the Minnesota Freedom Fund,” she said. “This is that on steroids.”
As for whether Republicans would push back, Behar was dismissive. “They’re — why would they? They’re right in his orbit. They only want to please dear leader.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, argued that the fund’s legal foundation is shaky at best. She noted that a federal judge in Florida had ordered briefings for May 27, suggesting she was preparing to throw out the underlying IRS case — before the DOJ rushed to settle.
“They settled the case before it even got adjudicated in court, and the settlement included this fund,” Hostin said. “So this is corruption, people, at the highest level.”
Whoopi Goldberg set the table by reminding viewers of the human cost of Jan. 6 — seven deaths, roughly 140 injured officers, and an estimated $2.7 billion in taxpayer funds spent on damages, security, and investigations.
“They are asking us to pay back the very people who cost us that money to begin with,” Goldberg said.
Behar predicted the fund will ultimately be blocked — either by Congress or the courts — pointing to vulnerable Republicans like Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) who represent districts won by Democrats as potential allies in killing it.
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