Trump’s $1.8 – President Donald Trump dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and, as part of a settlement, moved toward a new $1.8 billion fund to pay claims tied to purported “unfair prosecution.” The Justice Department says the fund will be gove
President Donald Trump ended a $10 billion fight with the Internal Revenue Service on Monday, swapping the lawsuit for a settlement that sets up a new $1.8 billion fund to pay claims tied to what the Justice Department describes as “weaponization” and “lawfare.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the new program in a Monday press release from the Department of Justice. calling it an effort to ensure “the machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American.” He said the department intends “to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again. ” and described the initiative as “The Anti-Weaponization Fund.”
The Justice Department said the fund will operate through a “Commission of five members” appointed by the Attorney General.. The department specified that “One Member will be chosen in consultation with congressional leadership. ” while also saying the President can remove any member—so long as “a replacement must be chosen the same way as the replaced member was selected.”
Oversight provisions in the announcement are tied tightly to the Attorney General’s office.. The department said that “on a quarterly basis. the Fund shall send a report to the Attorney General outlining who has received relief and what form of relief was awarded.” The Justice Department’s description also leaves open how much independent review the fund’s decisions would face in practice. given that appointments would flow from the Attorney General process and removal would involve the President.
Trump and his allies have long framed their legal battles as retaliation by the Biden administration. and the new fund is rooted in that argument.. The president previously claimed that he and his allies were targeted—including pointing to defendants charged for involvement in the Jan.. 6 insurrection.
The Monday settlement comes after Trump, his two eldest sons, and the Trump Organization filed the $10 billion lawsuit earlier this year. The suit was filed in January after IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn leaked the president’s tax returns to ProPublica and the New York Times.
House Democrats sharply disputed the legitimacy of the settlement structure.. In an amicus brief shared with MS NOW. House Democrats argued that Trump’s lawsuit “undermine[d] the Constitution” and that the proposed “Truth and Justice Commission” was a “slush fund.” They also wrote: “Never in the history of the United States has a sitting President sought a monetary settlement from the government he leads—let alone sought many billions of dollars in taxpayer funds.” The Democrats further argued that Trump was “filing a collusive lawsuit only to immediately dismiss it in order to produce a collusive settlement.”
The pushback from House Democrats connects directly to the sequence now reflected in the settlement: a suit seeking $10 billion is dismissed. and the same dispute is redirected into a $1.8 billion fund process administered by a commission tied to appointments through the Attorney General and removal through the President. with quarterly reporting back to the Attorney General.
Donald Trump IRS lawsuit Anti-Weaponization Fund Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Internal Revenue Service Department of Justice House Democrats Constitution settlement Charles Littlejohn tax returns Jan. 6