US Justice Department Unveils $1.7 Billion Fund for Trump Allies After Tax Lawsuit Dismissal
The US Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.7 billion fund, dubbed the "Anti-Weaponization Fund," intended to provide compensation for individuals associated with Donald Trump who allege they were unfairly investigated. This initiative surfaced "in exchange" for Trump withdrawing his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Democrats swiftly condemned the settlement, characterising it as a "slush fund" that diverts taxpayer money to Trump and his circle, funded by a federal agency now under his administration's oversight. While Trump's elder sons and the Trump Organization, plaintiffs in the original lawsuit, will receive an apology, they are not slated for monetary compensation from this new fund.
However, individuals pardoned by Trump for their involvement in the 2021 US Capitol riot, along with others claiming targeting by partisan federal investigators, are now eligible to submit claims. The settlement was finalised just two days before a deadline for legal arguments regarding the legitimacy of Trump's lawsuit, considering his current oversight of the IRS.
A spokesperson for Trump's legal team stated the president entered the settlement "squarely for the benefit of the American people," vowing to continue holding accountable "those who wrong America and Americans." Legal experts, in an amicus brief, had previously described Trump's lawsuit as "unprecedented," noting that "A sitting president seeks monetary damages for alleged harm to his personal interests from an executive agency that he controls." They highlighted Trump's own assertions of control over both the IRS and the Justice Department.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the department intends to "make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again." However, Brandon DeBot, policy director for the Tax Law Center at New York University, described the agreement as a "breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system." Over 90 House Democrats have reportedly moved to block the settlement, with Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin branding it a "slush fund for Trump's private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists."
Trump's initial lawsuit had alleged a failure to prevent the leak of his tax information by former IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn. This leaked data underpinned a 2020 New York Times investigation, which revealed Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and no taxes in 10 of the preceding 15 years. Littlejohn pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing tax data from Trump and others, receiving a five-year prison sentence the following year.
