APTOPIX Congress Blanche

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says the Trump administration is scrapping plans to create a $1.8 billion fund meant to compensate allies of the Republican president after widespread political backlash and setbacks in the courts. Blanche says, “We are not moving forward with the fund, period.” His comments during a House committee hearing Tuesday came in response to mounting pressure from Republicans for reassurances that the Justice Department’s plans were off the table before they would move forward with legislation funding President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement agencies. Blanche said the Justice Department was not abandoning an element of a settlement with the IRS that gave Trump and his family immunity from tax audits.

The U.S. military says it has carried out strikes against Iran following the crash of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman that U.S. President Donald Trump blamed on the Islamic Republic. A U.S. official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation said Tuesday that the helicopter went down after colliding with an Iranian drone. It wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran “will leave no attack or threat unanswered.”