WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche offered a staunch defense of a new $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” on Tuesday, while Democrats condemned the effort as a slush fund aimed at funneling taxpayer money to supporters of President Donald Trump.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers during a budget hearing on Capitol Hill pressed the head of the Justice Department for details on the fund, its scope and who would be eligible for compensation under its structure.

The questions from lawmakers came one day after the department announced the fund as part of a settlement of the unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit that Trump brought against the IRS earlier this year — a scenario where Trump sued the same federal government he oversees.

The fund will consist of a five-member commission appointed by the attorney general, the Justice Department said in an announcement. It also said the president can remove any member.

Under repeated questioning from lawmakers, Blanche stopped short of guaranteeing that the settlement funds would not go to people who have assaulted police officers or committed a violent crime, or to Trump campaign donors. Instead, Blanche said he expects that the commissioners will set up rules over eligibility and establish procedures for applying for compensation.

“Anybody can apply,” Blanche told lawmakers on the Senate Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Subcommittee.

Eligibility for the fund would only be limited by the term “weaponization,” he said, a broad criterion that opponents have latched onto for its lack of specificity.

Democratic senators castigated the fund at the hearing, slamming it as open corruption and an abuse of power that gives an administration-controlled commission the ability to dole out taxpayer money to administration allies.

“The president has set up a slush fund, however you want to say that it got set up,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the full Appropriations Committee. “And he literally will get to choose through his hand-picked appointees who gets paid that fund. That is absurd.”

Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the top Democrat on the subcommittee, denounced the direction of the Justice Department under the Trump administration and said the settlement fund was an outrageous and unprecedented slush fund.

“That is pure theft of public funds, and rewarding individuals who committed crimes is obscene. Every American can see through this illegal, corrupt, self-dealing scheme,” Van Hollen said.

Republicans, meanwhile, turned their attention to other issues or sought to defend the Justice Department.

“You want to talk about slush fund,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said after a line of questioning about Medicaid fraud. “This is a tier one slush fund that’s been going on for years and years and years.”

Still, some Republicans asked about how the fund would operate.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, R-Maine, said settlement funds have traditionally been used to pay specific claims brought against the government, but not for future claims that have yet to be brought.

Blanche acknowledged that the setup is unusual but said it’s not unprecedented.

The acting attorney general sought to parry Democratic criticism by pointing to a nine-figure settlement approved during the Obama administration in a long-running class action lawsuit that accused the Agriculture Department of discrimination against Native American farmers.

But Democrats seized on key differences in the cases, arguing that the settlement in the discrimination case was subjected to judicial scrutiny, unlike the settlement in Trump’s IRS case.

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