The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was established in exchange for Trump dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the leak of his tax returns, the Justice Department said.

Democrats Criticize the Settlement

Democrats have criticized the settlement as a “slush fund” paid for by taxpayers for Trump and his associates from a federal agency he oversees. The settlement came two days before a 20 May deadline for both sides to address whether a legitimate legal dispute existed, given that Trump now controls the IRS through his administration.

Trump’s legal team said the president was “entering into this settlement squarely for the benefit of the American people.” They added that Trump would continue his fight to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.

Details of the Fund

The fund will consist of a five-member commission, with four members appointed by the Attorney General, though it will receive $1.776 billion to allow the Justice Department to settle and pay claims. Participants in the 2021 US Capitol riot who were pardoned by Trump and others who claim they were targeted by partisan federal investigators will be able to submit claims to the fund.

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs. Which include Trump’s elder sons and the Trump Organization, will receive an apology, but no monetary compensation — a report on who receives payments will be sent to the attorney general. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American.

Criticism and Legal Analysis

Brandon DeBot. Policy director for the Tax Law Center at New York University, called the settlement a “breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system.” More than 90 Democrats in the House of Representatives have filed a motion to block the settlement. Maryland congressman Jamie Raskin described it as a slush fund for Trump’s “private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes.”

In the lawsuit. Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization had claimed that nothing had been done to prevent the leak of information by a former IRS contractor, Charles Littlejohn. In September 2020. Just before the November presidential election, that information formed the basis of an extensive New York Times investigation into Trump’s tax returns. The investigation revealed that Trump paid only $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency in 2016 and no taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years.

Trump released the documents two years later, in 2022. Littlejohn pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing tax data from Trump and thousands of wealthy Americans while working as an IRS contractor. The following year, he was sentenced to five years in prison.