(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump said he is interested in reviving his so-called anti-weaponization fund — and left the door open to steering some of its $1.8 billion toward rioters convicted of assaulting police in the Jan. 6 Capitol attacks — during a testy interview that ended with him abruptly walking out.

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“Me, personally, I think the weaponization fund is a great idea, and so do many other Republicans,” Trump said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “You have to get it approved. If they get it approved, that’s great. If they don’t get it approved, I’d be disappointed.”

Trump’s comments in an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker taped Friday and airing Sunday represent the clearest indication yet the president is trying to sustain the initiative, even after rare backlash from congressional Republicans that prompted Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to promise the idea was dead.

Trump’s continuing support for the idea threatens to reignite tensions with Senate Republicans, who are also unhappy with his selection of housing director Bill Pulte to be acting director of national intelligence.

The Justice Department said the $1.8 billion fund, which was created as part of a settlement agreement resolving Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over leaks of his tax returns, was designed to compensate victims of politically motivated investigations or legal action. But critics on Capitol Hill have derided it as a taxpayer-funded “slush fund” to benefit his political allies.

Although Trump suggested the fund would require further approval, it’s not clear who would need to provide that authorization. Democrats and some Republicans pushed unsuccessfully for a statutory ban on the fund as part of a homeland security funding package last week.

Initially asked if those who attacked police officers at the US Capitol should get taxpayer-funded payments from the account, Trump said: “I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it.”

When pressed on the idea, Trump asserted without evidence that some protesters were “ushered into a building” and pleaded guilty “because they were frightened.”

“The people were destroyed by dirty cops and by weaponization,” Trump said. “Many of those people should be compensated,” he added.

Trump grew visibly frustrated during the interview — taped in a Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, barn that was being battered by thunderstorms before a roundtable session with farmers — when challenged about his assertions, offered without evidence, that the 2020 election was “rigged” and that the slow vote count in last week’s California primary was proof that Democrats were cheating.

“Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later, they’re nowhere close to picking a winner?” Trump said.

“No, they’re crooked,” Trump said, before calling Welker “stupid,” criticizing Meet the Press and stopping the interview.

“You’re a one-sided crooked network. Sorry,” he said. “Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.”

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