WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced on Monday the establishment of a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund”, coming after President Donald Trump’s move to dismiss a $10 billion lawsuit filed against the IRS regarding his leaked tax returns.
Justice Department officials announced that Trump and his co-plaintiffs would withdraw their IRS lawsuit, along with other claims of damages, related to the 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence, and the Russian collusion scandal. In return, they would establish the fund, which the Justice Department stated would create a “systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”
The fund was established ahead of court deadlines in the IRS case, which would have required the Trump administration to explain whether there was an actual case to be heard, given Trump’s control over the Justice Department’s actions.
ABC News was first to report the settlement.
The massive fund would give Jan. 6 rioters pardoned by Trump a mechanism to seek taxpayer payouts for their claims of government overreach. The fund, as announced, could even issue formal apologies to individuals who made claims against the government. However, the fund will cease processing claims by December 15, 2028, approximately a month before the end of Trump’s second term.
The $1,776,000,000 available for the fund was based “upon the projected valuation of future claimants’ claims,” according to the Justice Department.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, said the fund was meant to reimburse “people that were horribly treated,” adding that he wasn’t involved in the fund’s creation.
Asked whether people who committed violence against Capitol Police officers should be eligible for compensation, Trump said “it’ll all be dependent on a committee being set up of very talented people, very highly respected people.”
The president did not respond to a question about whether his own family would seek compensation from the fund.
