Donald Trump rarely lets Republican criticism slide. On Wednesday, he may have picked a fight with the wrong one.
At a press gaggle at Joint Base Andrews, Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich tried to ask Trump whether he had spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump ignored the question entirely and instead turned to address the other reporters, saying: “Her husband votes against me all the time. Can you imagine? I don’t know what’s with him. You better ask what’s with him. He likes voting against Trump. You know what happens with that? Doesn’t work out well.”
He then pivoted to take a question about Taiwan.
A few things worth noting. First, Heinrich and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick are engaged, not married – a detail Trump got wrong while publicly lecturing the room about her personal life. Second, Fitzpatrick is a Republican. Third, Fitzpatrick was apparently watching.
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By the afternoon, the congressman had a response ready.
Fitzpatrick told reporters he was drafting legislation to kill the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it “bad news” and saying flatly: “We’re gonna try to kill it.” The fund, created through a settlement between Trump and the IRS after the president dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the agency, is designed to pay out claims from people who say they were unfairly targeted by the federal government, a category that includes January 6 rioters.
And Fitzpatrick sounded deeply opposed to it.
He wrote formally to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche warning that “directing nearly $2 billion in taxpayer funds into a discretionary account without answers about its legal basis, funding source, eligibility standards, or accountability structure represents a dangerous step backward for transparency, institutional integrity, and responsible stewardship of public dollars.”
The fund’s other features have not made it easier to defend. The settlement document declares the IRS “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from prosecuting or pursuing any claims involving Trump, his family, affiliated businesses, or related trusts. When asked if his legislative effort would target that provision too, Fitzpatrick said: “Of course, yeah, you can’t do that.”
Fitzpatrick is a moderate in a purple Pennsylvania district, one of only three House Republicans representing a district carried by Kamala Harris in 2024. Trump had recently helped oust Sen. Bill Cassidy and Rep. Thomas Massie after both defied him, and the morning’s remarks were widely read as a similar threat toward Fitzpatrick. The congressman, apparently unbothered, won his renomination the day before with no primary challenger.
On CNN, Fitzpatrick told host Kaitlan Collins that “every dime” the government spends should be going toward “over half of Americans that are living paycheck to paycheck,” adding: “That’s got to be at the forefront of every single House or Senate member’s mind … for that and many other reasons, I am completely objecting to this, and I’m going to do everything I can to fight it.”
Featured image via X screengrab
