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WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Monday the creation of a $1.776 billion fund to compensate allies of the Republican president who believe they faced unjust investigations and prosecutions, an arrangement that resolves President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.
Democrats and government watchdogs derided the arrangement as corrupt and unconstitutional. The newly designated “Anti-Weaponization Fund” will allow people who believe they were targeted for prosecution for political purposes, including by the Biden administration Justice Department, to apply for payouts from the $1.776 billion allocation.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that the fund creates “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Blanche said in a statement.
Blanche’s statement made no mention of how investigations and prosecutions of Trump’s political opponents under his watch have exposed the Justice Department to the same claims of politicized law enforcement that he said he opposed.
The settlement also includes the United States dropping tax claims against Trump as part of a broadened resolution to the lawsuit.