Justice Department announces a $1.7B fund to compensate Trump allies in a deal to drop IRS suit

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: AP

Updated 11:53 AM EDT, May 18, 2026


WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Trump administration on Monday announced the creation a $1.7 billion fund to compensate allies of the Republican president who believe they were mistreated by the Biden administration Justice Department.

The "Anti-Weaponization Fund" was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve President Donald Trump's lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the fund in a statement that it was "a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress."

Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight what they called a "corrupt" and unprecedented resolution, warning that the arrangement would unjustly enrich people close to the president with taxpayer dollars and open the door to meritless claims of political persecution.

Trump's lawyers disclosed the dismissal of the case in a filing Monday in federal court in Florida, where the president sued earlier this year. The fund would represent not only a highly unorthodox resolution but also a further demonstration of the administration's eagerness to reward allies who before Trump came to power were investigated and in some cases charged and convicted.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-lawsuit-irs-leak-3729de38770b558be01712a143437bf8

---

Overt self-dealing and grift.

Article updated.

Original article/headline -

Justice Department announces $1.7B fund to compensate Trump allies in deal to drop IRS suit


WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday that it is creating a $1.7 billion fund to compensate prosecuted allies of the Republican president after he moved to drop his lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve President Donald Trump’s case over the leak of his tax returns.

Democrats and government watchdogs immediately pledged to fight what they called a “corrupt” and unprecedented resolution.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

[keroro gunsou]

1. whiskey tango alpha foxtrot

are you kidding me? my tax dollars are a slush fund for that fucking orange baboon and his equally imbecilic cronies?

the midterms cannot come soon enough....

[johnnyfins]

2. So, not only did he incite these criminals to

beat the hell out of cops on Jan 6, now he will pay them? So he paid them to beat the shit out of cops. I get it.

I really dont think any of the unwashed magats will see a dime. TSF will either pocket most of the money or use it for ballroom.

[Lovie777]

3. Let the lawsuits commence.....

this is illegal.

[sop]

17. It should take at least as long for Trump to get his $1.7B as it'll take E. Jean Carroll to receive her money.

[Kid Berwyn]

4. I love how this has galvanized the Resistance.

Not.

Where are our leaders?

Not voicing ANYTHING makes voters think “It’s OK.”

[BumRushDaShow]

7. "Where are our leaders? Not voicing ANYTHING makes voters think "It's OK.""

They have been out there the past month discussing this.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143650892
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143663711
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143666271

[Kid Berwyn]

9. Thanks for the links!

I got nothing but respect for Jamie Raskin.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. He is the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee

so he is "doing his job".

Similarly, Robert Garcia is the Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee and he similarly comes out like this when the subject deals with stuff that comes under oversight purview!

And the same goes for the prolific Elizabeth Warren, who is the Ranking Member on the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee and is not shy about making her thoughts known on those subjects!

[Kid Berwyn]

27. Oh, I think she's TOPS! I supported Sen. Warren for President. Twice.

Right now, 250 years of progress teeters at the point of disappearing down the Memory Hole: MAGAGOPNAZI's roll-back of civil rights, human rights, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution have gone non-stop since Trump returned to the Oval Office. The world is poised at the brink of World War III and the best case scenario is a global Depression. And our situation gets more perilous every day.

That is why, were I in the leadership of the Democratic Party on January 20, 2025, I would have recommended as the first order of business we charter and fund a Democratically led, organized and popular opposition to Trump and his NAZI horde. A daily broadcast, a daily press release, a daily speaker, a daily press conference...even a newsletter would have been nice.

[GB_RN]

5. I'm Sure That...

Caligula will get one of his corrupt appointees to approve this pile of festering dog shit, but no REAL judge would have to think once about putting the kibosh on it.

This is corruption, plain and simple.

[Ray Bruns]

6. And where is this money going to come from? Doesn't Congress have to approve something like this?

Don’t answer, they are rhetorical questions.

[cstanleytech]

8. Hopefully this can be challenged in Court and blocked.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

10. MaddowBlog-Trump moves to withdraw $10 billion lawsuit against IRS amid reports of new 'slush fund'

The president’s civil case against the IRS is likely over. What we don’t yet know is what kind of deal precipitated the withdrawal.

A year ago, Trump endorsed a “compensation fund” for Jan. 6 rioters, though it wasn’t clear where he expected to get the money.

Now we know: He’d get it from us, in the form of a settlement agreement that results in a giant pool of money his team could use to reward his allies without oversight.

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-05-15T17:42:13.603Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-moves-to-withdraw-10-billion-lawsuit-irs-slush-fund-reports

In recent weeks, there’s been ample reporting from multiple news organizations that Donald Trump was preparing to withdraw his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. We now know those reports were true.

In a court filing made official on Monday morning, the president’s lawyers said their clients, including Trump, his family business and two of his adult sons, are voluntarily dismissing their civil suit.

The court filing, however, did not refer to or disclose any details about a potential settlement with the administration.....

The fund, which would have little oversight, was immediately condemned by congressional Democrats and legal experts as a “slush fund” that would be used to benefit the president’s political allies, including Jan. 6 rioters. These concerns led 93 Democratic lawmakers to file a brief with the judge in this case, arguing Trump is working to “undermine the Constitution” by seeking a settlement from the IRS.

A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team told ABC News last week, “The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people. President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”

I have been following this "case" and I believe that the so-called lawsuit was void due to a lack of jurisdiction and due to statute of limitations. The federal court hearing the case had amicus briefs filed last week that all take the position that there was no "case or controversy." Without a valid lawsuit, I doubt that this settlement will hold up.

[UpInArms]

11. Well lookie there

We now know who the “paid protesters” are

[Kid Berwyn]

16. "Crisis Actors"

The Fake Newsmaker

[NoSheep]

12. I didn't think I could despise these people any more than I already do.

[D. Spaulding]

13. Dems have got to vocally respond to this outrage and fight it tooth and nail. We know the GOP

won't say a word.

[Tben]

28. How to define the "class" to exclude us?

Seems to me the major perpetrators of lawfare and weaponization is the Trump. So....

[sop]

14. Wow! Trump is really a master dealmaker; he negotiated himself down from $10B to $1.7B, saving us $8.3B.

Good thing for America he didn't start out demanding $100B.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

15. Here is the DOJ release on this "settlement"

Link to tweet

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-anti-weaponization-fund

Part of settlement agreement in President Donald J. Trump v. Internal Revenue Service
The U.S. Department of Justice today announced that as a part of the settlement agreement in President Donald J. Trump v. Internal Revenue Service, the Attorney General established “The Anti-Weaponization Fund” to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.

The plaintiffs in the case, President Donald J. Trump, Donald J. Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization, LLC, filed suit against the Treasury and IRS in Southern District of Florida federal court following the leak of their tax returns. Per the settlement, plaintiffs will receive a formal apology but no monetary payment or damages of any kind. They have agreed, in exchange for the creation of this fund, to drop their pending lawsuit with prejudice, and also withdraw two administrative claims including for damages resulting from the unlawful raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Russia-collusion hoax.

“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,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. “As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”

“The use of government power to target individuals or entities for improper and unlawful political, personal, or ideological reasons should not be tolerated by any Administration,” said Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter.

The Fund will have the power to issue formal apologies and monetary relief owed to claimants. Submission of a claim is voluntary. There are no partisan requirements to file a claim. Any money left when the Fund ceases operations will revert to the Federal Government.

The Fund will receive $1.776 billion and will come from the judgment fund, which is a perpetual appropriation allowing DOJ to settle and pay cases. On a quarterly basis, the Fund shall send a report to the Attorney General outlining who has received relief and what form of relief was awarded.

At the Attorney General’s direction, the Fund can be audited. The Fund must take steps to protect private information and avoid fraud. The Fund shall cease processing claims no later than December 1, 2028.

There is legal precedent for such a Fund, most notably the “Keepseagle” case where the Obama Administration created a $760 million fund to redress various claims alleging racism against the federal government over a period of decades.

In Keepseagle, hundreds of millions of dollars remaining in the fund were distributed to non-profits and NGOs that never made claims, whereas any money remaining in The Anti-Weaponization Fund will revert to the federal government. The Obama DOJ settled by putting $680 million from the judgment fund into a bank account for a single claims administrator to dole out. In Keepseagle the remaining money—which ended up being over $300 million—was distributed to the entities that had not even submitted claims.

The Fund will consist of five members appointed by the Attorney General. One Member will be chosen in consultation with congressional leadership. The President can remove any member, but a replacement must be chosen the same way as the replaced member was selected.

Updated May 18, 2026

[UpInArms]

18. Funny how the DOJ is under the control of TFG's personal attorney

He settled with himself … bet he’s so proud of his screwing of taxpayers

[orangecrush]

20. The danger here cannot be overstated.

The lack of alarm shows a blindness to exactly where this is going, IMO.

[orangecrush]

19. We are now officially a kleptocracy

This is the "make sure there are no future elections" fund.

Buckle up.

[republianmushroom]

21. What a batch of BULSHIT.............

The precedent has been set.

[cstanleytech]

22. Yup as essentially he ordered his employees to give him taxpayer money.

[CanonRay]

23. Traitor payments

[bluestarone]

24. Somehow, get on record everyone that allows this BULLSHIT to happen.

Unfucking believable!! Get a vote on calling the DOJ's actions here. We NEED names of who made this decision?

[ChicagoTeamster]

25. He claims Biden weaponized the justice department ? What does he call his persecution of Comey, Brennan for doing

their jobs and conducting lawful investigations? trying to prosecute sitting Congressman and retired Navy Commander Kelly for advising troops not to follow illegal orders and commit war crimes. I doubt Trump will give much of that money to more than a few J6'ers and the rest will disappear somewhere.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

29. Trump Can't Be on Both Sides of IRS Settlement, Democrats Say

Since trump is on both sides of this "lawsuit", the courts have no jurisdiction. There can be no settlement if there was no real lawsuit in the first place.

Link to tweet

https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report/trump-cant-be-on-both-sides-of-irs-settlement-democrats-say

Democrats asked a court to block a reported settlement between the IRS and President Donald Trump over a leak of his tax information during his first term, saying it lacks the bare minimum required to file a lawsuit: two opposing parties.

Nearly 100 House Democrats signed an amicus brief in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Monday that says the case doesn’t distinguish between Trump as president and “personal capacity.” The brief also demands the court dismiss the lawsuit as unconstitutional. It sets another marker on how Democrats are finding fresh opportunities to highlight their opposition to how Trump’s personally benefiting from being president.

Trump moved toward dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the 2019 leak of his tax information in a court filing Monday morning. The Department of Justice announced the creation of a $1.7 billion federal fund to pay victims of so-called government weaponization to resolve the lawsuit, under which Trump wouldn’t receive any money directly.

“The President has repeatedly claimed far-reaching Executive power and frequently sought to use that power to further his own personal interests,” the brief said. “He cannot pretend that officials at the IRS and the Department of the Treasury—and their lawyers at the DOJ—operate independently from him for purposes of this case.”....

The Democrats’ filing is being handled by a task force led by top House Democrat leaders Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), along with House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin and House Ways and Means Committee ranking member Richard Neal (D-Mass.).

“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,” Raskin said in a statement announcing the amicus brief.

[sop]

32. Both men in charge at the IRS and the DOJ are "acting heads," neither have been confirmed, and both are Trump stooges.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the guy in charge of the DOJ, and the Trump henchman who ostensibly would have to approve this $1.7B settlement, was literally Trump's personal lead defense attorney, representing him in three major criminal trials: the Manhattan hush money case which resulted in a conviction on 34 felony counts, the federal classified documents case in Florida that alleged Trump mishandled classified records at his Mar-a-Lago estate, and the 2020 election interference case which accused Trump of conspiring to overturn his loss in the 2020 presidential election. Blanche was appointed as Acting Attorney General by Trump when Bondi was fired for not being sufficiently corrupt.

IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank Bisignano, "a newly created position," is the guy in charge of all day-to-day operations at the IRS, and there when Trump's $10B suit was filed. Bisignano was appointed by, and reports directly to, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. Before being appointed as Secretary of the Treasury by Trump, Bessent served as an "economic advisor, fundraiser, and major donor for the Donald Trump 2024 presidential campaign." And Bisignano "donated over $125,000 to Trump's 2020 presidential campaign," and his wife, Tracy, "donated over $931,000 to Trump's 2024 campaign."

The corruption is breathtaking.

[patphil]

30. If that's what this fund truly is, then Democrats that the DOJ attacked at the behest of Trump should get their share.

[EndlessMaze]

31. This is an OUTRAGE!

The call is coming from inside the house.

[dickthegrouch]

33. From a fellow CONVICT!

The grift is absolutely incomprehensible.

No crook/perp found even "Not Guilty" has EVER been compensated for the time and legal expenses they incurred for their defense. Far less anyone indicted, and subsequently convicted.

This is an intolerable outrage to the entire justice system.

[riversedge]

34. Only in Trumps USA!!-Taxpayers paying Rioters who hurt our Capitol police and damaged the Capitol!!

damn.


Trump creates $1.776 billion** fund from TAX Payers people who hurt the Capitol police and rioted in our Capitol!!!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-administration-creates-1-776-billion-fund-for-allies-of-the-president-after-he-drops-lawsuit-against-irs/ar-AA23ukjm?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=d4b2ce2e785f4bdbbdea7f9d4dc93246&ei=12

Story by Hannah Rabinowitz, Tierney Sneed, Casey Gannon, Paula Reid, CNN • 1h •

[CoopersDad]

35. Does the DOJ have a fat bank account?

Or does this have to pass congressional approval?

[Scrivener7]

36. Did I tell y'all about my friend who lost his job? He was an administrator of a company that employed

nurses who treated old people's tunneling bedsores.

Ever seen a tunneling bedsore? It's one of the most painful things imaginable.

But the funding for that service was cut by something like 80%, so his company disbanded.

Now all those people are out of jobs, and all those old people have no one to treat them.

Because we are supposed to believe there isn't enough money in Medicare and Medicaid to treat them.

Because someone needs a billion dollar ballroom and a 1.7 billion dollar slush fund for his corrupt cronies to steal from.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

37. Judge is taking the position that the lawsuit does not include any settlement

The lawsuit was void due to a lack of a "case or controversy" and is not mentioned in the motion to dismiss. The court is in effect ruling that this settlement is not part of the lawsuit and has no force or effect.

Link to tweet

NEWS A federal judge closes Trump's lawsuit against the IRS, noting there's "no settlement of record" because DOJ never mentioned one on the docket. We'll see if that upends the $1.776B fund to Trump's allies.

Again, the court had no jurisdiction in this case due to a lack of a case or controversy. There will be some litigation on this "settlement"