The New York Times: “The Trump administration announced on Monday the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department and Democrats, forging a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to President Trump’s allies. The highly unusual “anti-weaponization” fund — denounced by critics as a political slush fund — was unveiled just after Mr. Trump withdrew his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service demanding at least $10 billion. It was an apparent effort to skirt oversight by the judge in the case who had expressed concern that the suit represented self-dealing between the president and a department run by his former defense lawyer, Todd Blanche. The tandem moves amounted to an end-run that appeared to strip Judge Kathleen M. Williams, who had been overseeing the I.R.S. case in the Southern District of Florida, of her appointed role in approving a formal settlement agreement. By dismissing the case in its entirety, Mr. Trump was able to reach an agreement with his own appointees without risking the rebuke of an impartial and independent arbiter. The cash value of the fund was set at $1.776 billion, a nod to the nation’s founding. The Justice Department added in its announcement that its creation was intended “to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare,” though it offered few other details, including who might qualify. The announcement invited immediate pushback and raised the possibility of legal challenges outside of Mr. Trump’s original lawsuit, though it remained unclear who would be able to show that they had been harmed by the creation of the fund and therefore had a right to sue. Still, Judge Williams, tacitly acknowledging her hands were tied, accepted the president’s dismissal of the suit and formally closed the case by the end of the day. The Trump administration announced on Monday the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department and Democrats, forging a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to President Trump’s allies. The highly unusual “anti-weaponization” fund was denounced by critics as a slush fund and as a brazen misuse of a once-independent Justice Department to carry out the president’s personal and political agendas.

The announcement provided few details of how the disbursement would work or who would be eligible. But the arrangement raised the possibility that American taxpayers might end up writing checks to those prosecuted for the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021, and others the president has cast as victims of Biden administration actions. “This is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” said Donald K. Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonprofit legal watchdog group that has been critical of the administration. The fund was announced shortly after Mr. Trump withdrew his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service demanding at least $10 billion in damages for the unauthorized disclosure of his tax information. In addition to withdrawing his suit against the I.R.S., Mr. Trump will also drop separate administrative claims. Those include his demand that the government pay him $230 million for investigations into his 2016 campaign’s potential ties to Russia and into his handling of classified documents after he left office.

See also House Democrats’ Litigation Task Force Fights to Block Trump’s Self-Dealing Settlement in Sham $10 Billion IRS Lawsuit “As President Donald Trump attempts to conclude the sham $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)—an agency he oversees as President of the United States—House Democrats’ Litigation Task Force simultaneously filed a motion to block this unconstitutional taxpayer-funded settlement. The coalition is being led in this effort by Task Force Co-Chairs Judiciary Ranking Member Jamie Raskin and Assistant Leader Joe Neguse, as well as Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries. 93 House Democrats signed on to the amicus brief filed in Trump v. IRS before Judge Kathleen Williams in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The lawmakers’ filing seeks to prevent Trump’s corrupt attempt to “settle” the lawsuit in exchange for the creation of a $1.7 billion slush fund through which the president would be able to reward allies, including the nearly 1,600 defendants convicted or charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol. It also argued that the lawsuit is unconstitutionally collusive and not a real case or controversy, given that President Trump is effectively on both sides of the case. Ultimately, the lawmakers urged Judge Williams to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction.

“This is pure fraud and highway robbery. No one can be both plaintiff and defendant in the same case. And no president can concoct a fake case for $10 billion in damages against the government so he can be plaintiff and defendant and then ‘settle’ his bogus case against himself as a judge. This is simply not a genuine case or controversy as required by the Constitution. But Trump’s DOJ is not arguing any of this because it is in on the scam. This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump at DOJ to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes. As set out in our amicus brief in Trump v. IRS, we urge the Court to dismiss this ludicrous case for lack of jurisdiction and to block any settlement that would turn the Treasury into a vehicle for corrupt self-dealing in violation of the Constitution and Congress’s exclusive power of the purse,” said Ranking Member Raskin…”

• Updated May 20, 2026 – Via Scott McFarlane – YouTube: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and other Republicans are expressing concerns about President Donald Trump’s plan to pay off his allies and supporters, including the January 6th insurrectionists. Plus, Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) explains what Democrats should do if and when they retake power after the upcoming midterm elections…”
• Updated June 2, 2026: Via Developer – Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday that the Trump administration is not moving forward with the controversial $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, delivering the clearest public signal yet that the program is collapsing under legal pressure and bipartisan backlash. “We are not moving forward with the $1.8 BILLION fund,” Blanche said during a tense House hearing, where Democrats pressed him over a program critics had warned could function as a presidential patronage machine for Trump allies.