Trump administration shelves $1.8 billion 'anti-weaponization' fund after bipartisan backlash

The fund's collapse

A $1.776 billion 'anti-weaponization fund,' created last month as part of a settlement of Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, has been shelved. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche told a congressional hearing on Tuesday that 'we're not moving forward with the fund., period.' The announcement followed a federal judge's order temporarily blocking the fund and mounting criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.

The reason for the fund, which is something Donald Trump talked about for a long time, which is that there are a lot of people in this country who have the government weaponized against them, the reasons remained as important as they were before, but we are not moving forward with the fund.

Who stood to benefit

Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys leader serving a 22-year sentence for seditious conspiracy over the January 6 Capitol riot, told Reuters he planned to apply, expecting between $2 million and $5 million. 'I'm not greedy,' Tarrio said. 'But my life was all fucked up because of this.' Peter Ticktin, an attorney representing more than 400 January 6 defendants, said the fund might not be enough, citing clients who 'lost multi-million dollar businesses while they were locked up.' Trump himself suggested the amount was insufficient, calling it 'peanuts' and saying 'it destroyed the lives of many, many people.'

The Justice Department overprosecuted for political gain. So everyone deserves to get money.

Political and legal firestorm

Democrats branded the mechanism a 'slush fund' for Trump allies. Two Capitol Police officers who defended the building on January 6 filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the fund, calling it a 'taxpayer-funded slush fund' for rioters. A bipartisan group of 35 former federal judges filed a motion on 27 May urging a Miami judge to reopen Trump's IRS lawsuit and investigate whether the settlement involved fraud, calling the fund's creation a 'fraud on the court.' Republicans, meanwhile, saw the fund as an obstacle to passing an immigration and border security bill through reconciliation, fearing Democrats would force them into recorded votes on the issue.

The tax amnesty addendum

While the compensation fund is on hold, a separate provision of the settlement remains intact: an agreement 'forever barring' the IRS from auditing past tax claims by Trump, his relatives, and his businesses. The president's legal team confirmed to The Daily Beast that this tax amnesty is moving forward. The settlement shields Trump from a potentially costly ruling; The New York Times reported the audits could have cost him more than $100 million. The amnesty applies only to existing audits, not future ones.

President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.

What happens next

US District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia temporarily blocked the fund last week ahead of a 12 June hearing, responding to a lawsuit by a former January 6 prosecutor and others. The Justice Department said it 'disagrees strongly' with the ruling but will comply. A separate federal judge in Miami reopened Trump's IRS lawsuit on 29 May to examine whether the court was deceived by the parties. No payments have been made, as the fund was still being organized. Blanche was slated to appoint a five-member board to oversee disbursements, with one member named in consultation with Congress.