{"id":868,"date":"2026-05-19T21:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=868"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:06:17","slug":"trumps-extraordinary-1-8-billion-legal-fund-to-his-allies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=868","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s extraordinary $1.8 billion legal fund to his allies"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio speaks in Washington on the five-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. (Jabin Botsford\/The Washington Post)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

This week, President Donald Trump and the Justice Department announced a $1.8 billion fund<\/a> widely expected to go to people who stormed and attacked the Capitol after he lost the 2020 presidential election as well as anyone who claims they were wrongly prosecuted by Democratic administrations.<\/p>

Read more Live updates: Georgia Senate primary election results 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The enormous taxpayer legal fund designed for the president\u2019s supporters has shocked ethics experts and stirred impeachment talk among some Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,\u201d Donald K. Sherman, president of the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told<\/a> my Washington Post colleagues.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re reading The 5-Minute Fix newsletter, a free analysis of the day\u2019s biggest political news. <\/i>Get it in your inbox<\/i><\/a> every weekday.<\/i><\/p>\n

Trump sued the Internal Revenue Service<\/a> this year after a contract worker stole and leaked his tax documents, leading to an extraordinary situation where the president was suing his own administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks bad,\u201d Trump said this fall of other legal claims he has against the government. \u201cI\u2019m suing myself, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuit also came as those accused in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol were demanding payment for being prosecuted in the first place.<\/p>\n

Trump pardoned almost all of them his first day in office, letting hundreds of people out of jail, but many say they deserve reparations<\/a> as well. Some marched on Washington earlier this year, on the fifth anniversary of the attack, to show their support for Trump and demand more.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going anywhere,\u201d Robert Morss, who was sentenced to more than five years in prison for assaulting police offers, among other charges, told my Post colleague. \u201cWe\u2019re here to fix history, set the record straight, and we\u2019re going to make America great again, whether they like it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s lawsuit against the IRS faced headwinds in court. And this week his legal team and the Justice Department \u2014 led by his former personal lawyer \u2014 reached a deal where Trump would drop the lawsuit in exchange for the government setting up an \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

The parameters of the fund are broad, with a focus on people who claim they were \u201cwronged\u201d or persecuted by Democratic administrations. The fund will abruptly close when Trump leaves office.<\/p>

Read more Trump shows off White House ballroom construction as funding stalls in Congress<\/a><\/p>\n

Acting attorney general Todd Blanche told lawmakers Tuesday that more details on how the fund works will be released soon.<\/p>\n

This settlement appears more like an agreement between Trump and his administration than a real legal settlement.<\/p>\n

Trump won\u2019t get the money, but he will have ultimate authority over appointing a five-member panel deciding how much to dole out and to whom, and there is no requirement this information be released to the public. \u201cThis is reimbursing people who were horribly treated,\u201d Trump said this week.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Blanche told senators<\/a> there would be \u201cfull transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Already hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants have filed claims for it, my Post colleagues report. Blanche said that people convicted of assaulting law enforcement will be eligible: \u201cAnybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they were victims of weaponization.\u201d<\/p>\n

In announcing the fund, the Justice Department pointed to the Obama administration setting up a fund<\/a> to resolve claims of discrimination made by Native American farmers and ranchers.<\/p>\n

But that was not directed explicitly at a president\u2019s political allies, nor derived from a lawsuit by the president and not nearly as costly.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not clear if this is legal <\/a>or who might even claim standing to sue the Trump administration over it. The Treasury Department is supposed to sign off on legal payments, and its top lawyer resigned<\/a> Monday as the fund was announced.<\/p>\n

But there could be political consequences. Trump\u2019s pardon of Jan. 6 attackers was deeply unpopular<\/a>, and a taxpayer fund for them comes as Americans increasingly say their life is unaffordable and blame Trump<\/a> for some of it.<\/p>\n

Trump has also made headlines lately for boldly trading<\/a> millions of dollars of tech stocks and investing in cryptocurrency. And his family company, run by his children, is making real estate deals<\/a> in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s theft of taxpayer money, while people are losing healthcare coverage and food aid while suffering from Trump-induced higher prices,\u201d wrote<\/a> left-leaning economist Paul Krugman, \u201cis perfect fodder for the Democrats in the upcoming elections.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Teenage star Sooryavanshi smashes 93 against Lucknow to keep Rajasthan in line for IPL playoffs<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why the enormous fund is so controversial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump\u2019s extraordinary $1.8 billion legal fund to his allies - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=868\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump\u2019s extraordinary $1.8 billion legal fund to his allies - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why the enormous fund is so controversial.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=868\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T21:06:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/cb5beed84b0e4df8e76a8fd3cccf0dac-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=868#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=868\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Trump\u2019s extraordinary $1.8 billion legal fund to his allies\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T21:06:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=868\"},\"wordCount\":798,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=868#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/30df7a8f0bd38ca0d033bea03ed55951-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=868#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=868\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=868\",\"name\":\"Trump\u2019s extraordinary $1.8 billion legal fund to his allies - 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