Trump Drops IRS Suit, DOJ Creates $1.776B Anti-Weaponization Fund

President Donald Trump settled a private lawsuit seeking $10 billion in damages from his own administration and agreed to drop it in exchange for a $1.776 billion Department of Justice “anti-weaponization fund.” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fu

On a day when Democrats rushed to intervene in a federal case. the Justice Department finalized a deal that turns a dropped lawsuit into a new pot of money for claims tied to “weaponization and lawfare.” President Donald Trump. who filed the underlying suit as a private citizen. agreed to walk away from his $10 billion demand against his own government. In return. the department promised to set up a billion-dollar “anti-weaponization fund. ” with $1.776 billion coming from an existing fund used for paying administrative claims.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department intends to “make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again. ” and he framed the agreement as a safeguard against government retaliation. Trump himself, the Justice Department said, will not receive any compensation.

The figure attached to the fund, $1.776 billion, is a nod to the nation’s declaration of independence from Great Britain 250 years ago.

Trump’s legal moves arrive with political baggage already in motion. On the first day of his second term. Trump pardoned more than 1. 500 people charged with crimes for rioting at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Democrats have argued that payback is now possible through the new fund. and they seized on the settlement as another step in aligning federal enforcement with Trump’s allies.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called the arrangement corrupt. saying Trump “dropped a $10 billion lawsuit against his own government in exchange for a $1.776 billion slush fund to steer our tax dollars to election deniers and insurrectionists.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in an emailed statement that “No president should be able to use the Department of Justice as a personal rewards program for the people who helped him attack our democracy.”.

The controversy has its roots in what Trump brought to court in the first place. Trump filed a lawsuit earlier this year as a private citizen against the IRS. seeking damages over what he alleged was an illegal leak of his private tax information in 2020. The settlement requires him not only to drop that suit. but also to withdraw administrative claims connected to other Justice Department actions.

Those withdrawn claims include damages related to the Justice Department’s criminal cases against him over his attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election and his hoarding of classified documents after leaving the White House.

Trump has repeatedly insisted he was only the victim of a “witch hunt” targeting political opponents of then-President Joe Biden. He has also continued to falsely insist he won the 2020 election and has lamented the weaponization of the federal government. even as he directs the Justice Department to target his political foes.

The White House did not comment on Monday and pointed instead to the Justice Department’s release.

Neither the press release nor the settlement agreement document spells out who will be eligible for claims. leaving a crucial question hanging over what the department is actually building. Still. lawyers who have already been pushing similar requests suggested the fund could become a new route for people trying to recover after being pursued by the Justice Department.

Mark McCloskey, an attorney who has filed administrative claims for hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters, told HuffPost last week that he had advocated for the administration to set up such a fund. On Monday. McCloskey said. “It’s very similar to what we had suggested over a year ago. ” and added that he would look into converting his clients’ prior administrative claims against the Justice Department into anti-weaponization claims. saying. “Maybe it’ll restore people’s faith in the government.”.

Democrats, however, see something different. They described the proposal as a “slush fund” for Trump and said the president’s lawsuit created an obvious conflict of interest because he was suing a government he controlled.

On Monday, dozens of Democrats filed a motion to intervene in the case. In their filing. they argued that Trump’s action “is a collusive lawsuit that undermines the separation of powers. frustrates Congress’ lawmaking prerogative. ” and could siphon billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of the President. his family. and his allies unless the case is dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

The case is before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams. who questioned whether she should dismiss it and set a deadline for Wednesday for the parties to respond. Trump’s legal team moved to dismiss the case on Monday. a move aimed at preventing Williams from throwing it out and blocking the settlement.

Donald Sherman. president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. said in a statement that the settlement amounted to “the most brazen act of self-dealing in the history of the presidency. ” and he criticized the speed of the agreement as a way to avoid judicial scrutiny. “This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” Sherman added.

The sequence now leaves the new fund as the central unanswered question. The department is promising a process “to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare. ” but the eligibility terms remain unspecified. and Democrats are trying to pull the matter back into a courtroom where they can challenge the arrangement’s legal footing before the money ever begins to move.

Donald Trump Department of Justice Todd Blanche anti-weaponization fund $1.776 billion IRS lawsuit weaponization and lawfare Jan. 6 pardons Kathleen Williams Jamie Raskin Chuck Schumer Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington