Administration

What to know about $1.776B DOJ compensation fund for Trump allies

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by Ryan Mancini - 05/19/26 8:31 AM ET

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by Ryan Mancini - 05/19/26 8:31 AM ET

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) could soon provide access to a $1.776 billion compensation fund to allies of President Trump who claim they were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Monday announced the creation of an “anti-weaponization fund” that will “have the power to issue formal apologies and monetary relief owed to claimants,” further noting that there is “no partisan requirement” to file a claim. Unreleased funds will return to the federal government.

The attorney general’s office will receive, on a quarterly basis, a report that outlines who has received relief from the fund and what form of relief was awarded, according to the announcement.

The fund will consist of five members appointed by the DOJ, with one member chosen “in consultation with congressional leadership.” The president will be allowed to remove any member, with the attorney general appointing replacement members. It is unclear how the commission will determine who is qualified for compensation.

The administration will stop processing claims after Dec. 1, 2028 — just under two months before Trump’s second term ends. The fund will operate through Dec. 15, 2028.

“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” Blanche said Monday in a statement. “As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”

He made no reference, however, whether Trump’s political opponents will receive similar compensation if they believe they are being wrongly investigated or prosecuted.

The department also did not identify who could benefit from the fund, nor was there mention of anyone charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, including those that were pardoned by Trump or had their sentences commuted.

The president, when asked if those who participated in the attack are eligible for compensation, told reporters that it will depend on the fund’s committee to make that decision.

“I didn’t do this deal,” he said Monday. “It was told to me yesterday.”

The fund’s creation came as part of a settlement in Trump’s now-withdrawn $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The president sued the agency in January after a contractor leaked his tax return information to the media.

The DOJ cited the Keepseagle v. Vilsack case, “where the Obama administration created a $760 million fund to redress various claims alleging racism against the federal government over a period of decades.”

One of the attorneys in that case, Joseph Sellers, told CNN that the circumstances of that case and what the DOJ is announcing are completely different. After settlement claims were paid in that case, $380 million of the $680 million payout was still unclaimed.

Negotiations followed and as there was nothing requiring those funds to return to the government, they went toward Native American ranching and farming communities that were part of the original lawsuit.

“That really is the critical issue,” Sellers told the outlet. “You have to serve the same community whose interests were at stake in the litigation that was brought.”

Democrats and at least one Republican have criticized the DOJ’s “anti-weaponization fund” as the creation of, as Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) described, a “slush fund.“

“Wait a second, I just came off the campaign trail,” Cassidy, fresh from his primary loss over the weekend, told reporters Monday. “People are concerned about making their own ends meet, not about putting a slush fund together without a legal precedent.”

He added, “We’re a nation of laws. If there needs to be a settlement, let’s consider it and Congress should come together and decide on that.”

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said he was “open to the concept,” but also questioned who would be eligible and “where the money’s coming from.”

A group of 93 House Democrats filed an amicus brief seeking to block the fund, writing that Article III of the U.S. Constitution “requires” the court to dismiss the settlement. The lawmakers argued that the settlement must be dismissed since Trump was leading the federal government when he sued the IRS, a federal agency.

Those same House Democrats said the settlement and subsequent fund “raises the