The United States Department of Justice has introduced an 'anti-weaponisation fund' that will be used to financially compensate people who claim they have been unfairly targeted by the federal government.
The fund, announced on Monday, is part of a settlement arising from a lawsuit that President Donald Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this year, blaming it for a leak of his tax information.
Between 2018 and 2020, Trump's tax information was leaked to The New York Times. In 2023, Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former contractor at the IRS, was accused of providing those tax returns. The Times, citing the returns, reported in 2020 that Trump, a billionaire, had paid little or no federal income taxes over 15 years.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to disclosing the returns and in 2024 was sentenced to five years in prison. In January, Trump sued the IRS and Department of the Treasury for $10bn, accusing the agencies of failing to prevent the leak of his tax information.
On Tuesday, the office of the attorney general in Washington DC announced the establishment of the 'anti-weaponisation fund' as part of a settlement agreement. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, appointed by Trump, was quoted as saying: 'The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American.'
The fund will receive just under $1.8bn from a separate 'judgment fund', a standing government account used to pay legal settlements without requiring an act of Congress. People who believe they have been harmed by unfair legal action by the federal government may seek compensation by filing a claim.
Every three months, the fund is supposed to issue a report to the attorney general detailing who has received payments or relief. The fund is to be overseen by a team of five people appointed by the attorney general, with one member appointed in consultation with congressional leaders. The fund will operate until December 1, 2028.
Because the fund was established as part of a Justice Department settlement and has already been approved by a federal judge, it does not require further approvals. However, critics are calling for Congress to intervene. Some Democrats are objecting, and several legal experts argue that using a legal settlement to create such a large compensation scheme pushes the limits of executive authority.
They believe the fund will ultimately be used to pay off Trump supporters who rioted at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, but have since been pardoned by Trump himself. On January 6, 2021, thousands of rioters stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of Joe Biden's victory. More than 2,000 people broke into the seat of Congress, vandalised offices and fought with police. Five people were killed.
About 1,270 people were convicted of federal crimes linked to the riot. On the day he was inaugurated for his second term in January last year, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 1,500 people. More than 90 Democrats in the House of Representatives filed a legal document to try to block the new fund.
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren described the fund in an X post as a '$1.7 BILLION slush fund for Trump's hand-picked stooges to hand money to January 6th insurrectionists'. Oregon Senator Ron Wyden called it 'the most brazen theft of taxpayer dollars by any president in history'.
The Cato Institute published an analysis titled 'Trump's Anti-Weaponization Fund Is a (Another) Slush Fund'. Acting Attorney General Blanche argued that the fund is similar to one set up during the Obama administration, the 2011 Keepseagle v Vilsack settlement for Native American farmers. However, legal experts dispute the comparison, noting that Trump v IRS was not a class-action lawsuit and the new fund will operate largely without judicial oversight.
Source: www.aljazeera.com