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This is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated. It's anti -weaponization. The Justice Department has announced a nearly $1.8 billion fund that it says will be used to compensate people who have "suffered weaponization and lawfare." They say it will have the power to issue formal apologies and monetary relief owed to claimants, and that on a quarterly basis, it will send a report to the Attorney General outlining who has received a relief and what form of relief they did receive. The so-called Anti-Weaponization Fund actually totals $1.776 billion, an apparently symbolic move to match the country's founding year. It was created in exchange for President Trump, his two adult sons and the
Trump Organization dropping a $10 billion lawsuit that they had filed against the IRS over leaks of their tax returns back in 2019 and 2020. This was actually a unique case in that it's the first time that I'm aware of in which a sitting president sued his own government for something that happened during his own administration. One day after reaching that settlement, the DOJ shared an addendum stating that the lawsuit's plaintiffs, meaning Trump, his family and their business, would be shielded from any IRS enforcement regarding their past tax returns.
Critics had already raised conflict of interest concerns over the $10 billion lawsuit, and Democrats have panned the settlement as a slush fund that will be used to pay Trump's political allies, potentially including people who had attacked police officers in the January 6th Capitol riot. But the fund and the tax provision that was added to it have also generated a level of bipartisan resistance that has been pretty rare to see in Trump's second term. It's also prompted a growing number of lawsuits. Here's what you need to know. The new fund will get its money from the Judgment Fund, a permanent, indefinite appropriation that has allowed the Justice Department to settle and pay cases since its inception in 1956.
The money in the Judgment Fund is taxpayer money. Creating an additional nearly $2 billion fund within government to fulfill new claims was not what Congress had intended when it created the Judgment Fund. Actually, once Congress created the Judgment Fund, Congress was really left with no checks on it. The Justice Department says that the fund can be audited at the direction of the Attorney General, a role currently occupied by Todd Blanche, Trump's former criminal defense lawyer. The settlement is actually pretty clear that it will not be a particularly transparent fund in terms of who is being awarded, how the awards are determined.
The DOJ stresses that anyone can file a claim and that there are no partisan requirements, but claims will be evaluated by a five-member volunteer commission appointed by the Attorney General, with just one of those members being selected in consultation with congressional leaders. What's more, Trump will be allowed to fire commissioners without cause to be replaced by the Attorney General. Trump said in a Truth Social post recently that the fund would bring justice to people who he says were victimized under the Biden administration. The fund is set to process claims through most of Trump's term, ending in December 2028.
Any remaining balance left in the fund will revert to the federal government. The money can go into any account of the president's choosing. Payments can be decided by as few as two members of the commission, who will weigh the claimant's incurred damages, attorney's fees, time spent in prison and any other relief they have received, among other factors. It's pretty open ended what the members of the Anti-Weaponization Fund could use the money for, what kind of claims they're willing to consider and from whom.
Blanche has left open the possibility that January 6th rioters convicted of assaulting Capitol Police officers could receive payouts from the fund. Two January 6th police officers are now suing President Trump over the creation of his $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund. The deal between the Justice Department and President Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization, has set off a political firestorm across party lines.
Senate leaders sent members home for the Memorial Day recess after disagreement over President Trump's $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund. Some legal experts say that Congress has the best shot at challenging the fund, and members of Congress have already put forward legislation to do just that. The Problem Solvers Caucus co-chairs Republican Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democrat Tom Suozzi of New York are teaming up to try and shut down the controversial Anti-Weaponization Fund at the Justice Department.
President Trump, for his part, has denied involvement in the settlement that created the fund. I know very little about it. I wasn't involved in the whole creation of it. There's not necessarily anything overtly illegal about this. But constitutionally, we do want Congress, the representative branch, to be the one deciding, at least in the broad sense, how taxpayer money is used. And this really does create an end run around that.
