DOJ sets up $1.7B ‘anti-weaponization’ fund after Trump drops IRS lawsuit
The massive taxpayer-backed fund was set up to settle what outside legal experts had called an “unprecedented” lawsuit filed by the sitting president against the government.
May 18, 2026, 8:55 AM CDT / Updated May 18, 2026, 11:39 AM CDT
By Ryan J. Reilly, Gary Grumbach and Megan Lebowitz

The Justice Department on Monday announced that it was establishing a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” after President Donald Trump moved to dismiss a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax returns.

Justice Department officials announced that Trump and his co-plaintiffs would drop their IRS lawsuit as well as other claims of damages in connection with the 2022 search of Mar-A-Lago and in connection with the Russian collusion scandal “in exchange” for the creation of the fund, which DOJ said set up a “systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”

The establishment of the fund came 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 was first to report on the news of 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 could even issue “formal apologies” to individuals who made claims against the government, the announcement stated. The fund will stop processing claims by Dec. 15, 2028, about a month before Trump’s second term is set to end.

The $1,776,000,000 amount available for the fund was based “upon the projected valuation of future claimants’ claims,” according to the Justice Department.

A group of House Democrats called the move a “$1.7 billion slush fund” that the president could use to “reward allies, including the nearly 1,600 defendants convicted or charged in connection with the January 6th attack on the Capitol.”

Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., called the news “one of the most brazen examples of corruption we’ve seen from this administration.” The House Democrats’ Litigation Task Force filed a motion seeking to block what Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., called “pure fraud and highway robbery.”

The attorney general would appoint five members of the commission to oversee the fund, including one member to be chosen in consultation with congressional leadership, the DOJ said, adding that Trump could remove any member of the commission.

Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
BREAKING:

It’s official. The Trump DOJ just confirmed the creation of a $1.776 billion slush fund that can be used to pay Trump allies who claim they’ve been wrongfully targeted by the Biden admin’s ‘weaponization’ — including, reportedly, Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
10:35 AM · May 18, 2026
https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2056398174894387551?s=20

Congressman Jamie Raskin, interviewed by Greg Sargent:

In our interview, Raskin pointed out other glaringly corrupt aspects to this. He noted that Treasury’s Judgment Fund is supposed to dole out its settlements and lawsuit judgments in accordance with actually existing court or administrative proceedings involving genuine victims of the government. As Raskin’s staff notes, depending on the details, the relevant agencies and government officials must sign off on these payments, and they’re disclosed to Congress and the public.

But with the new fund, it’s not clear the payments will look anything like this. It appears to transfer control over its payments to Trump alone, Raskin’s staff says, and decouples them entirely from all those agency processes.

“The Judgment Fund exists to settle valid judgments against the United States government,” Raskin told me. Trump and his allies, Raskin said, are “trying to take money from the Judgment Fund while eliminating any controls and oversight” and putting it under Trump’s “direct unilateral control.”

On top of that, Raskin added, this circumvents Congress in another way, since Congress never voted to create a fund structured this way. Which potentially renders it unconstitutional, too.

.
@GregTSargent
The terms of Trump’s slush fund appear to transfer control of $1.8 billion outside of US government entirely. That seems to circumvent Congress completely and put the payments to “victims” of ‘weaponization” beyond any congressional oversight or constitutional/legal constraints.
https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/2056420920151925041?s=20

Adam Serwer

‪@adamserwer.bsky.social‬
So you CAN get reparations you just have to be a reactionary white person who tries to overthrow the government because black votes shouldn’t count
11:01 AM · May 18, 2026
https://bsky.app/profile/adamserwer.bsky.social/post/3mm5aqgzwjc2t

Steve F.
@backyardsage
It wasn’t approved by Congress as is required by Article 1, Section 9, Clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution, so this amounts to the outright theft of nearly $1.8 BILLION by Trump.

The next Democratic administration should send the IRS after eveybody who receives any portion of it.
1:24 PM · May 18, 2026
https://x.com/backyardsage/status/2056440701400105197?s=20

Chris Hayes

‪@chrislhayes.bsky.social‬

Follow
They’re stealing billions of your money to pay off violent right-wing psychos while doing everything in their power to spike gas up to $5 a gallon, make groceries into a luxury and hand the country over to the oligarchs who want to permanently replace you.
11:33 AM · May 18, 2026
https://bsky.app/profile/chrislhayes.bsky.social/post/3mm5ckduxyk2k

JoJoFromJerz
‪@jojofromjerz.bsky.social‬
They attacked our Capitol in his name.
First he released them from prison.
Now he’s rewarding them with millions.
They beat the police officers who were protecting the citadel of our democracy, and now they’re going to be millionaires.

youtu.be/d0lWyU748cA?…
https://bsky.app/profile/jojofromjerz.bsky.social/post/3mm5dk6kh522j

Ron Filipkowski

‪@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social‬
List of some people eligible to get payouts from taxpayers from the Trump/Blanche Criminal Slush Fund:

Steve Bannon
Peter Navarro
Rudy Giuliani
Mark Meadows
Stewart Rhodes
Enrique Tarrio
Sidney Powell
Jenna Ellis
John Eastman
Jeffrey Clark
Boris Epshteyn
Joe Biggs
Walt Nauta
1:05 PM · May 18, 2026

List of some people eligible to get payouts from taxpayers from the Trump/Blanche Criminal Slush Fund:Steve BannonPeter Navarro Rudy GiulianiMark MeadowsStewart RhodesEnrique TarrioSidney PowellJenna EllisJohn EastmanJeffrey ClarkBoris Epshteyn Joe BiggsWalt Nauta

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2026-05-18T18:05:08.645Z

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick
@ReichlinMelnick
This is a THEFT far worse than Watergate. There is no other word for it. They are stealing $1.78 BILLION dollars to pay Trump‘s allies, despite knowing that these people are not legally entitled to any money and be laughed out of court if they filed a lawsuit for money damages.
https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/2056405643783807055?s=20

Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
$1.7 billion is about to be paid out of the pockets of US taxpayers to J6 criminals who beat cops and Trump’s other dirty henchmen. Trump set up a slush fund to reward these scumbags with your money and Republicans in Congress won’t say a word about this disgusting corruption.
10:56 AM · May 18, 2026

Ron Filipkowski
@RonFilipkowski
This is not “the Justice Department” creating this $1.7 billion slush fund to hand out to Trump’s criminal supporters.

It is Trump’s former criminal defense attorney Todd Blanche handing out your tax dollars to Trump’s co-conspirators and thugs.
11:22 AM · May 18, 2026
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2056410029570290035?s=20

@GregTSargent
Nearly 100 House Dems just filed papers calling on the judge to throw out the lawsuit that’s the basis for Trump’s “settlement” creating his new slush fund, arguing that DOJ is colluding with Trump to iunlawfully circumvent Congress:
https://x.com/GregTSargent/status/2056417593905303728?s=20