The U.S. Department of Justice announced that as a part of the settlement agreement in President Donald J. Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, the Attorney General established “The Anti-Weaponization Fund” to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.
Miami-based U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams closed the case in an order Monday evening. The plaintiffs in the case, Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization, LLC, filed suit against the Treasury and IRS in Southern District of Florida federal court following the leak of their tax returns. Per the settlement, plaintiffs will receive a formal apology but no monetary payment or damages of any kind. They have agreed, in exchange for the creation of this fund, to drop their pending lawsuit with prejudice, and also withdraw two administrative claims including for damages resulting from the unlawful raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Russia-collusion hoax.
Under the deal announced Justice Department is setting up a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to pay claims to people acting Attorney General Todd Blanche called “victims of lawfare and weaponization.” “The use of government power to target individuals or entities for improper and unlawful political, personal, or ideological reasons should not be tolerated by any Administration,” said Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter.
The Fund will have the power to issue formal apologies and monetary relief owed to claimants. Submission of a claim is voluntary. There are no partisan requirements to file a claim. Any money left when the Fund ceases operations will revert to the federal government.
The fund will receive $1.776 billion and will come from the judgment fund, which is a perpetual appropriation allowing DOJ to settle and pay cases. On a quarterly basis, the fund shall send a report to the attorney general outlining who received relief and what form of relief was awarded.
Blanche did not elaborate on who will be eligible for the compensation, but some people who were convicted of crimes in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot have already sued the government. The fund, to be overseen by a five-person commission, will process claims through mid-December 2028 — about a month before Trump’s term is set to end.
There is legal precedent for such a fund, most notably the “Keepseagle” case where the Obama Administration created a $760 million fund to redress various claims alleging racism against the federal government over a period of decades.
In Keepseagle, hundreds of millions of dollars remaining in the fund were distributed to non-profits and NGOs that never made claims, whereas any money remaining in The Anti-Weaponization Fund will revert to the federal government. The Obama DOJ settled by putting $680 million from the judgment fund into a bank account for a single claims administrator to dole out. In Keepseagle the remaining money—which ended up being over $300 million—was distributed to the entities that had not even submitted claims.
The fund will consist of five members appointed by Blanche. One member will be chosen in consultation with congressional leadership. The president can remove any member, but a replacement must be chosen the same way as the replaced member was selected.
House Democrats, through their litigation task force, urged Judge Williams to block immediately any prospective settlement deals that could “reward allies, including the nearly 1,600 defendants convicted or charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol,” according to a legal filing.
“It’s official: Trump is moving to make the Jan. 6 cop-beaters, rioters and insurrectionists millionaires with our tax dollars,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, the House Judiciary Committee’s ranking member, said in a statement after the announcement of DOJ’s fund. Only Congress has the power to appropriate federal dollars, and Congress never authorized a nearly $1.8 billion political slush fund for aggrieved MAGA foot soldiers and sycophants.”