Court Battles

Democrats: DOJ’s $1.776B ‘anti-weaponization’ fund ‘raises the specter of corruption unparalleled’

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by Max Rego - 05/18/26 3:45 PM ET

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by Max Rego - 05/18/26 3:45 PM ET

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Numerous Democratic lawmakers are criticizing the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) new “anti-weaponization” fund, with a group of House Democrats even filing suit to block its creation.

Earlier Monday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the creation of the $1.776 billion fund as part of a settlement agreement in President Trump’s since-withdrawn lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Trump sued the IRS for $10 billion in January over an agency contractor leaking his tax return information to news outlets.

Shortly after Blanche created the fund, a group of 93 House Democrats filed an amicus brief seeking to block it. In a 31-page filing in federal court in the Southern District of Florida, the lawmakers wrote that Article III of the U.S. Constitution “requires” the court to dismiss the settlement.

Article III, Section 2, Clause 1 states that courts have the power to settle “cases” or “controversies” between various entities, including in situations involving the federal government. In their filing, the Democrats argued that the court must dismiss the settlement since Trump sued the IRS, a federal agency, while he is in charge of the federal government.

“The unprecedented posture of this suit fundamentally disregards Article III’s case or controversy requirement and raises the specter of corruption unparalleled in American history,” the amicus brief reads. “No controversy can exist when the plaintiff controls the defendant, as President Trump does here.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, also slammed the settlement as “pure fraud and highway robbery” on Monday.

“No one can be both plaintiff and defendant in the same case,” Raskin said in a release. “And no president can concoct a fake case for $10 billion in damages against the government so he can be plaintiff and defendant and then ‘settle’ his bogus case against himself as a judge. This is simply not a genuine case or controversy as required by the Constitution.”

The $1.776 billion fund will give payouts and issue “formal apologies” to those who pursue settlements after arguing the government wronged them, according to the DOJ.

The department cited as precedent the Keepseagle v. Vilsack settlement, under which the DOJ during the Obama administration created a $760 million fund to redress individual claims accusing the Agriculture Department of racism against Native Americans.

But Raskin argued that the DOJ will use the fund to “hand out” money to convicted Jan. 6 rioters, several of whom have pending suits against the federal government.

“This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump at DOJ to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes,” the Maryland Democrat added.

Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), the assistant House Democratic leader, in the same release as Raskin, called the president’s lawsuit against the IRS “one of the most brazen examples of corruption we’ve seen” from the Trump administration.

“The case is unlawful, unethical, and lacks the bare minimum required to file a lawsuit: two opposing parties. House Democrats are taking a stand for the American taxpayers that would be forced to foot the bill for this mess, and are calling on the court to block any unconstitutional settlements in the matter,” Neguse added.

“Trump suing the IRS was never about justice, it’s another self-enrichment scheme on the backs of hard-working taxpayers,” said Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass), the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee, in the release.

“Now, with the Court poised to weigh in only days from now, Trump is scrambling to cut a backroom deal and solidify his position as the judge, jury, and executioner,” he noted.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), meanwhile, accused the president of devising “a plan to shake hands with himself in order to fund his insurrectionist army to the tune of billions.”

Schumer added in a release, “Donald Trump sued his own government. Trump’s DOJ settled with Trump. And now Trump gets a nearly $2 billion slush fund to reward his own allies, loyalists, and insurrectionists.

“That is not justice,” the New York Democrat added. “That is cor