President Trump declined to commit to scrapping plans for a $1.8 billion fund that would have compensated his allies and Jan. 6 rioters, one day after the Justice Department’s top official said they were retreating from the program that sparked a political backlash on both sides of the aisle.

“I don’t know. I’d have to ask the lawyers,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday when asked if the fund was dead or simply on hold.

“The weaponization fund, as far as I’m concerned, was a beautiful thing,” the president continued.

“These are people that are great people that were destroyed. Their families have been destroyed, many suicides. They committed suicide,” Mr. Trump said of some of the potential recipients, which could include people convicted of crimes stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“People that went there, they went there with love,” he said, talking about the crowd that marched towards the Capitol to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Mr. Trump’s comments raise more questions about whether or not the Justice Department is permanently closing the door on its effort to award payouts to the president’s supporters. The president has insisted they deserve payouts because they were victims of a weaponized justice system that targeted his allies.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday sought to put a lid on the backlash by assuring lawmakers that the $1.8 billion fund was officially dead.

“We’re not moving forward with the fund, period,” Mr. Blanche told a House panel, but he also refused to put that in writing, creating confusion about the fund’s status.

Sen. Lindsey Graham. South Carolina Republican, posted on social media that Congress should create its own version of the anti-weaponization fund. That post was shared by Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who wrote, “we’re on it.”

Mr. Woodward later deleted the post.

Mr. Blanche didn’t explain why the DOJ was canceling the nearly $1.8 billion reserve it announced last month, but many lawmakers — Democrats and Republicans alike — criticized it as a bad use of taxpayer dollars with worse optics.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told the press Monday the administration’s best path forward was a new course entirely.

“The best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves,” he reportedly said.

Many lawmakers in both parties said they were angry and uncomfortable about the fund, saying it was a reward for rioters who tried to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, South Dakota Republican, told reporters this week that the best course of action would be for the administration to shut it down.