Former Trump Adviser Offers Half-Hearted Defense of President’s ‘Anti-Weaponization’ Fund: ‘I’m Doing the Best I Can’

Former Trump advisor David Urban offered a half-hearted defense of President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization fund” on Thursday, claiming, “I’m doing the best I can.”

Urban, a former Trump campaign adviser, joined Democratic strategist David Axelrod on Anderson Cooper 360 to discuss the Department of Justice’s new $1.776 billion fund, set up as part of a settlement of Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the 2019 leak of his tax returns.

Several Republicans have spoken out publicly against the fund, with Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) one of its most vocal critics, referring to the policy on Thursday as “stupid on stilts.” At least six other Republican lawmakers have spoken out against the fund or its possible payment towards those who assaulted police on Jan. 6 – a possibility that no one within the administration has ruled out – including Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL), and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI).

Host Anderson Cooper asked Urban why the administration has not directed the DOJ to stipulate that those convicted of violence against police cannot be paid by the fund. In response, Urban criticized the fund, noting that it could harm Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections.

“This is adding more bricks to the load that a lot of these House members are carrying, right? Nobody– those images which you’re showing on your screen right now, police officers being beaten, right, by protesters, it’s abhorrent,” he said. “And the notion that some of those folks might be able to get taxpayer dollars to kind of make them whole, whole for what I really don’t understand. Them being prosecuted for beating a police officer? I don’t get it. You know, Republicans used to be the party of law and order and back the blue and stand with our law enforcement on every account, but just not on January 6th? It makes me scratch my head.”

Later in the conversation, Urban attempted to defend the fund, after repeatedly expressing joking frustration over the number of times he agreed with Axelrod throughout their discussion. Both Cooper and Axelrod pushed back on Urban’s justification for the DOJ’s move, leading the former Trump advisor to indicate he, too, was not thrilled with his own explanations.

Read their exchange below:

URBAN: Anderson, I was going to say quickly, this all started out as you might remember, as that Donald Trump was wronged. He really was. I mean, there was an IRS employee who leaked all his tax documents to The New York Times, who then ran–

COOPER: Yeah, he’s in jail.

AXELROD: I think he was a contractor.

URBAN: No, no, no, I understand. I’m just giving you– I’m giving you–

AXELROD: He went to jail.

URBAN: I’m– I got to fight for, I got to fight for Republicans here. I can’t agree with Axe the whole time, okay? So you know, there is there is some underlying wrong here that, you know, the president could sue the Department of Justice and sue the government, and when he’s out and get, you know, tens and tens of millions of dollars, potentially billions of dollars in settlement. And so I think that he’s saying, “Look, I’m going to forego that. I’ll take an apology, and I’ll have this money, go to others who are wronged.” I think that was the basis of this in the beginning, and it was kind of–

AXELROD: Yeah, but Anderson–

URBAN: –gotten sidetracked pretty quickly.

AXELROD: Dave, dude–

COOPER: Seems like a very select group of wronged people.

URBAN: I’m doing my– I’m doing the best I can. I’m doing the best I can, AC.

Watch above via CNN.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!