Ally of DOJ pardon attorney seeks to join board of Trump's $1.7+ billion fund
Source: CBS News
Politics * Exclusive
Ally of DOJ pardon attorney seeks to join board of Trump's $1.7+ billion fund
By Gabe Kaminsky
May 20, 2026 / 7:12 PM EDT / CBS News
A Republican lawyer and close ally of Ed Martin, the U.S. pardon attorney, has submitted a request to the Justice Department to join a panel that will dispense over $1.7 billion to people who claim they were victims of legal "weaponization," according to a letter obtained by CBS News. ... On Wednesday evening, lawyer Mike Howell said in a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that he wished to "declare my candidacy for one of the five member positions on the anti-weaponization fund."
Blanche is responsible for appointing the members of the commission overseeing the fund, according to a memo he signed this week. The fund was announced Monday as part of the DOJ's settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit that President Trump filed earlier this year against the Internal Revenue Service for the leak of his tax returns. {snip} If Howell is chosen, it would place him in a powerful position to oversee payments to people who submit claims to the fund, which the DOJ said will operate through the end of 2028.
File: Attorney Mike Howell speaks outside the federal courthouse in Washington on June 6, 2023.
Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
Howell is a close ally of Martin, the pardon attorney at the Justice Department who advocated for Mr. Trump's pardons or commutations for more than 1,500 people who were charged or convicted for their role in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. ... From outside the government, Howell ran Martin's Senate confirmation process to be U.S. attorney for D.C., a job Martin held on an interim basis but failed to secure full-time.
Howell, who is based in Washington, D.C., is the president of a conservative group called the Oversight Project that investigates alleged weaponization of government. He is also a visiting fellow in the border security and immigration center at the Heritage Foundation.
{snip}
Gabe Kaminsky
Gabe Kaminsky is an investigative reporter for CBS News based in Washington, D.C., covering money and influence in politics.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/trump-fund-board-attorney-mike-howell/
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