WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Republicans held a closed-door meeting with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday to discuss the Trump administration's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, derailing a planned vote on a Republican bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Speaking on his podcast "Verdict with Ted Cruz," Sen. Ted Cruz described the session as "one of the roughest meetings I've seen in my entire time in the Senate."

Cruz said roughly 45 senators attended and that at least half were confronting Blanche over the fund. "My guess is there're probably 45 senators in the room, at least half of them were blasting the attorney general, and they were pissed," Cruz said, using a vulgarity to describe the senators' mood. He added: "There were multiple senators yelling at the attorney general, saying this feels like self-dealing."

Cruz said roughly half of the Republican caucus would have voted with Democrats in favor of amendments to rein in the fund had votes been held Thursday night. He warned that if the administration does not modify the fund by the time Congress returns to session, the Senate faces a full revolt. The Senate is scheduled to return on June 1, the same day President Trump said he wanted to sign the ICE and Border Patrol funding bill into law.

The Justice Department announced the anti-weaponization fund after Trump said he would drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and related claims. Justice Department officials said the fund came in exchange for Trump dropping those claims and would involve a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare. The administration had not ruled out that people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6 riot could be compensated by the fund.

Sen. Thom Tillis called the fund a "payout pot for punks." Sen. Dick Durbin wrote in a letter to Blanche that "the notion of the federal government doling out compensation to rioters is absurd and offensive."

Representatives Tom Suozzi and Brian Fitzpatrick introduced legislation aimed at prohibiting federal money from being used by the fund. In a Wednesday letter to Blanche, Fitzpatrick demanded answers on the fund's legal authority and who is eligible for compensation.