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The Trump administration announced on Monday the creation of a fund of 1.7 billion dollars aimed at compensating allies of the Republican president who claim to have been targeted by the Department of Justice during the Biden era, according to a report from AP News.
The announcement came in parallel with Trump’s decision to withdraw his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) over the leak of his tax returns, filing the motion to dismiss in a federal court in Florida.
The fund, named "Anti-Weaponization Fund" (Fund Against the Use of the Judicial System as a Political Weapon), would be financed by the "Judgment Fund" of the U.S. Treasury (Judgment Fund), a permanent mechanism used to pay judgments and settlements of the federal government.
Among the potential beneficiaries are individuals charged in connection with the events of the Capitol assault on January 6, 2021, as well as other entities related to Trump's circle that claim to have been targets of the "weaponization" of the Biden administration.
The commission that would manage the fund would have broad discretion to distribute the money, and Trump could remove its members without cause, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
The political reaction was immediate: the House Democrats' Litigation Group announced that it would attempt to block the deal, labeling it as a "self-serving benefit."
Democrats argue that the scheme involves using public funds to compensate individuals politically close to the president, and that Trump himself could indirectly benefit from the mechanism.
The AP agency described the resolution as "highly unorthodox," noting that the use of the U.S. Treasury's "Judgment Fund" for a political compensation fund of this nature is unprecedented.
The case has a direct background in the leak of Trump's tax returns by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor, who stole and disclosed confidential tax information to news organizations such as The New York Times and ProPublica.
Littlejohn was accused in September 2023, pleaded guilty in October of that year, and was sentenced to five years in prison by federal Judge Ana C. Reyes on January 29, 2024.
The Justice Department noted at the time that Littlejohn "abused his position of trust" by leaking confidential tax information of thousands of wealthy taxpayers.
In February of this year, Trump had stated that if he received money from the IRS case, "we would do something for charity," and that it could be a "substantial" amount.
Trump has repeatedly asserted that the Department of Justice was "weaponized" against him and his allies during the Biden administration, a narrative that now supports the creation of this unprecedented fund in American political history.
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