"The Anti-Weaponization Fund": What It Is & Why It Matters
SmartHERNews
Jenna Lee
4.9 • 660 Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A "dark day for democracy" or a way to "right the wrongs" of the past?
Jenna takes you inside the White House Press Briefing room, where the Vice President focused on two major topics: Iran and a controversial DOJ settlement creating a $1.77 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund.
Vance says he can’t know if Iran will ultimately reach a deal and suggests it’s unclear what Iran wants.
Jenna provides some background on a new settlement t related to a lawsuit brought by President Trump over allegedly leaked tax returns.
We discuss unanswered questions about how the new "Anti-Weaponization" fund will operate - who qualifies, how claims will be vetted and why critics argue this is "corruption in plainest sight."
00:00 Vance Takes Podium
00:53 Iran Talks Insight
02:53 Stalemate And Goals
04:42 DOJ Settlement Rewind
06:13 Anti Weaponization Fund
08:07 Senate Pushback Questions
11:29 Vance Defends Fund
14:35 Media Pattern Warning
16:37 Why Announce Now
18:52 Midterms Economy Question
21:23 Election Dynamics Ahead
22:14 Who Briefs Next Outro
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Vice President Vance steps to the podium at the White House and walks straight into one of the most controversial stories of the week that you need to know about. |
| 0:13.4 | Hi, everybody. I'm Jenna, and this is smarter news. And let's get straight to it. We've seen a rotating cast of characters in the White House press briefing room as the |
| 0:21.2 | press secretary Caroline Levitt is out on maternity leave. Just a few weeks ago, we had Secretary of State |
| 0:26.0 | Marco Rubio handle a press briefing, and now it's the vice president's turn. And he took a little bit |
| 0:31.8 | of a page out of the Secretary of State's playbook, trying to warm the crowd up with a little joke and a sense of humor before |
| 0:39.7 | he got started. I told Carolyn I would stand in for her today for the White House press briefing |
| 0:44.8 | on the condition that when Usha has our baby in July, that she would be vice president for a couple |
| 0:50.3 | weeks. So I mean, it sounds like a fair trade. Why not? Just a little, let's just |
| 0:54.4 | do a little musical chairs around the cabinet positions, just to kind of spice things up. |
| 0:59.0 | I'll let you know if that happens. In the meantime, Vice President Vance did not waste time |
| 1:03.9 | getting into the topic that he wanted to highlight, which included his negotiations with |
| 1:09.8 | Iranian counterparts. |
| 1:11.2 | This is important to pay attention to. |
| 1:13.3 | And as I take a look at the whole briefing that lasted just over 50 minutes or so, |
| 1:17.6 | what I'm about to share with you is one of the most newsworthy parts of the briefing, |
| 1:22.0 | albeit probably the one that's not getting the most attention. |
| 1:24.7 | Remember, the vice president has a unique perspective that even the |
| 1:27.5 | president of the United States does not have and that he has sat down in close proximity. We don't |
| 1:33.7 | know exactly what these talks look like with Iranian officials to try to negotiate a way out of |
| 1:39.8 | this conflict. And one of the first questions he received was on this topic. Let's take a listen. |
| 1:45.2 | What is it about the Iranian side that you personally have seen where you believe that they |
| 1:50.8 | are negotiating with us in good faith? Well, first of all, I'd say it's a very complicated |
... |
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