ANALYSIS
Trump creates fund of more than $1.7 billion to compensate victims of Biden's 'lawfare'
Current Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund will establish "a legal process for victims of judicial warfare and instrumentality of justice to be heard and obtain redress."
Donald Trump at the White House
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday the creation of a $1.7 billion fund aimed at compensating political allies persecuted during the Biden Administration.
The fund, called the "Anti-Weaponization Fund," is part of an out-of-court settlement in which President Trump withdraws a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in which he claimed $10 billion in damages.
According to the DOJ, Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization had sued the IRS in federal court in Florida for illegally leaking their tax returns. A former IRS contractor pleaded guilty in 2023 to leaking Trump's returns and other Americans to the press, and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Redress for judicial war victims
The current acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, will be in charge of appointing the five members who will make up the committee responsible for administering the fund.
In an official statement, the prosecutor noted, "The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American. It is this Department’s intention to correct the wrongs of the past and ensure that this never happens again."
Blanche added that the fund will establish "a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress."
Settlement details
According to the Justice Department, the fund will not be limited to President Trump's close circle, but will be open to anyone who believes they were a victim of political persecution during the Biden era.
Prominent among the potential beneficiaries are the hundreds of the president's supporters prosecuted for their alleged involvement in the riots on January 6, 2021 in the Capitol. To all of them, Trump already granted a massive pardon during his first day in office in January 2025.
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