NORTH LIBERTY — Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks said she is “very concerned” over President Trump’s new $1.8 billion federal fund designed to compensate “victims of lawfare and weaponization” and shared reservations about supporting the arrangement that has spurred some bipartisan outrage.
The Justice Department, led by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal attorney, announced May 18 it is planning to use taxpayer money to pay those who feel they were unfairly targeted by the federal government as part of a legal settlement the president secured. That could include Jan. 6 rioters and other Trump allies who say they were wronged under Democratic administrations.
Democrats have raged against the deal as “corrupt,” calling it a “slush fund.” And pushback from Senate Republicans has delayed the chamber from taking up budget reconciliation bill to fund immigration enforcement.
Two police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, have sued Trump and his administration to block the fund.
After a campaign rally May 27 at the Copper Boar ahead of the June 2 primaries, Miller-Meeks told the Des Moines Register, “I think we need a whole heck of a lot more information,” and until then, she remains “very reserved about supporting” the arrangement.
The Ottumwa Republican was sworn in for her first term in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021 and voted to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election as president when rioters stormed the Capitol.
“I think that both political parties, and I know that both Obama and Biden had settlements, often they would go through court cases, but that helped and assisted their political allies,” Miller-Meeks said. “And not that people that were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 were all criminals. We know that some were unfairly, grossly, unfairly treated and targeted, but there were also people who attacked police officers. I was there, I met with them.”
She said “I do have pause” as she has spoken broadly about the need to root out corruption.
“I have concerns about the weaponization fund,” Miller-Meeks said. “We need to know more information. We need to have oversight. We need to know who determines it, where it goes. So right now, I have more questions than I have answers. And so it’s something that without a lot more body to it, it’s something that I would be very concerned about. I’m just very concerned about it.”
Fund stems from Trump’s legal settlement with his own Justice Department
Blanche announced the fund May 18 as part of a settlement agreement in a lawsuit that Trump and his family brought against the Internal Revenue Service, which he now controls as president, seeking $10 billion in damages over his leaked tax returns.
The Trump family agreed to voluntarily drop the lawsuit — meaning a federal judge won’t rule on the merits of the suit — in exchange for the creation of the fund.
It follows years of accusations from Republicans that the Biden and Obama administrations “weaponized” the Justice Department to go after Trump, his companies and his supporters.
Miller-Meeks’ comments are the most critical yet from Iowa’s congressional delegation.
Iowa’s senior U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and GOP U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is seeking Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat, previously said they want to ensure the fund has oversight. But Grassley also defended the fund over the Biden administration’s actions.
Ahead of primary challenge from the right, Miller-Meeks touts Trump endorsement
Miller-Meeks’ open concerns on the “anti-weaponization” fund put her at odds with Trump, whose endorsement she earlier touted during her rally as she faces a primary challenge from her right flank. She is running for a fourth term in southeastern Iowa’s 1st Congressional District in one of the nation’s top battleground contests.
Trump endorsed her reelection bid over Davenport marketing consultant David Pautsch, a self-proclaimed MAGA Republican — marking the first time she has received his backing since 2020.
She cast her own story of growing up with a father in the Air Force, her recovery from a severe burn from a kitchen fire and later enlisting in the Army and putting herself through medical school as a quintessential “American story.”
“Now what that tells you about me is that I’m tenacious,” Miller-Meeks said. “I’m dogmatic, I’m resilient, I persevere and like a little bulldog, I just never let go. And that’s why President Trump endorsed me, because I’m a fighter. I fight for those things that are important. … That’s the story of America and that’s worth fighting for.”
Miller-Meeks took a swipe at Democratic frontrunner Christina Bohannan, who’s trying a third time to oust her, mostly over her Iowa House votes on transgender issues. And she took a jab at Pautsch over his remarks in a Register interview that he believes he will benefit from Democrats’ heavy spending against Miller-Meeks while he has raised little campaign cash, saying “Like I say, my enemy’s enemy is my friend.”
“That doesn’t sound like somebody who wants to beat the Democrat,” Miller-Meeks said.
She fielded several audience questions about topics ranging from the nation’s housing crisis to water quality.
On a question about overhauling campaign finance, Miller-Meeks said the issue was complicated because of Supreme Court precedent equating money to constitutionally protected speech that can’t be limited by the government.
But she said “money’s not everything” in campaigns and pivoted to talking about direct voter outreach, including town halls.
Miller-Meeks declined to hold in-person forums for months before eventually hosting a raucous event in November, where voters shouted over her answers and aired frustrations with Trump’s policies. She has also held several telephone town halls.
She raised concerns about Democratic state Auditor Rob Sand not being the moderate he paints himself to be as he runs for Iowa governor but complimented his approach to campaigning after he has completed a 100-town hall tour.
“One of the things that I think he did very well was to go out and meet people, any party, to go out and meet with people,” Miller-Meeks said. “And we do that. And I would do vastly more town halls if Democrats treated me the way Republicans treated Rob Sand with respect, with courtesy and just the ability to have a conversation. So when we do our telephone town halls, people who call, we answer. They ask questions, I answer questions.”
USA Today reporter Joey Garrison contributed to this article
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Miller-Meeks ‘concerned’ about Trump’s $1.8B ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
