Updated
May 18,
2026, 5:08 p.m. ET1 minute ago
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05/18/us/trump-news
Trump
Administration Live Updates: $1.8 Billion Fund Could Funnel Money to Trump
Allies
What
We’re Covering Today
Justice
Department: The Justice Department said that it had created a $1.8 billion fund
that could compensate supporters of President Trump who contend they were
mistreated by Democratic administrations. The announcement came as part of a
settlement with President Trump of his $10 billion lawsuit against the I.R.S.
Read more ›
Hegseth
Campaigns: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigned for a Republican House
candidate in Kentucky, an extraordinary foray into partisan politics by a
cabinet official that was part of a wide-reaching effort by Mr. Trump and his
allies to oust Representative Thomas Massie. Read more ›
Middle
East: Mr. Trump said he had authorized a new wave of attacks against Iran this
week but that he was holding off after three Gulf leaders requested more time
to negotiate a nuclear deal. Read more ›
Justice
Department
May 18,
2026, 9:35 a.m. ET8 hours ago
Glenn
Thrush Andrew
Duehren and Alan Feuer Glenn Thrush and Andrew Duehren reported from Washington.
Alan Feuer reported from New York.
Critics
call the compensation plan a political slush fund bankrolled by taxpayer money.
The Trump
administration announced on Monday the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to
compensate those who claim they were targeted by the Biden Justice Department
and Democrats, forging a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to President Trump’s
allies.
The
highly unusual “anti-weaponization” fund — denounced by critics as a political
slush fund — was unveiled just after Mr. Trump withdrew his lawsuit against the
Internal Revenue Service demanding at least $10 billion. It was an apparent
effort to skirt oversight by the judge in the case who had expressed concern
that the suit represented self-dealing between the president and a department
run by his former defense lawyer, Todd Blanche.
The
tandem moves amounted to an end-run that appeared to strip Judge Kathleen M.
Williams, who had been overseeing the I.R.S. case in the Southern District of
Florida, of her appointed role in approving a formal settlement agreement. By
dismissing the case in its entirety, Mr. Trump was able to reach an agreement
with his own appointees without risking the rebuke of an impartial and
independent arbiter.
The cash
value of the fund was set at $1.776 billion, a nod to the nation’s founding.
The Justice Department added in its announcement that its creation was intended
“to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who
suffered weaponization and lawfare,” though it offered few other details,
including who might qualify.
In
addition to withdrawing his suit against the I.R.S., Mr. Trump will also drop
separate administrative claims. Those include his demand the government pay him
$230 million for investigations into his 2016 campaign’s potential ties to
Russia and into his handling of classified documents after he left office.
Mr.
Trump, his two sons and his family business, who sued the I.R.S. together,
would receive an apology but not be paid out of the new fund, officials said.
It
remains unclear if the announcement represents a serious effort to disburse
cash or a provocative distraction intended to provide the president with
political cover as he retreats from a dubious lawsuit he was about to lose, or
some combination of both.
Mr. Trump
and the department’s leadership have repeatedly accused Democrats of
weaponizing federal law enforcement against their enemies. They have yet to
provide evidence of illegality, or political animus, in the two federal
prosecutions of Mr. Trump or in investigations into his allies.
“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,” Mr. Blanche said in a statement
announcing the proposal.
He added,
“As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of
lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
A memo
signed by Mr. Blanche, just over one page in length, offered only the vaguest
outline of how the fund will operate. It did not define “weaponization,”
specify the process by which claims would be assessed or even enumerate the
actual amount of money that would be distributed.
The
amount specified in the department’s news release — with its symbolic value —
“does not represent the value of any claim by plaintiffs, but rather is based
on the projected valuation of future claimants’ claims,” Mr. Blanche wrote in
his memo.
Money for
the fund will come from a special, unlimited account available to the Justice
Department for settling lawsuits. That pool of money gives the department the
authority to make monetary settlements without needing approval from Congress.
A group of five people, selected by Mr. Blanche, will oversee the operations of
the fund, though Mr. Trump can fire its members at will. It will stop
processing claims on Dec. 15, 2028, weeks before Mr. Trump leaves office.
Creation
of the fund, which could be used to compensate Trump supporters who ransacked
the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is sure to please a president who has demanded not
only retribution but recompense. But it could create major political problems
for congressional Republicans already dealing with the political ballast of his
unpopularity — and who will now be forced to say if they support or oppose
allocating taxpayer cash to his allies at a time when many Americans are
struggling economically.
“This is
one of the single most corrupt acts in American history,” said Donald K.
Sherman, president of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington,
a nonprofit legal watchdog group that has been critical of the administration.
Stacey
Young, the founder of Justice Connection, a network of former department
employees, said the fund fit a larger “pattern of corruption that is eroding
D.O.J.’s integrity and Americans’ faith in the rule of law.”
Potential
recipients were thrilled.
Mark
McCloskey, a St. Louis-based lawyer best known for having brandished an
AR-15-style rifle during a racial justice protest outside his home six years
ago, had tried for nearly a year to get compensation from the government for
about 430 Jan. 6 defendants but repeatedly ran into opposition from Mr. Blanche
and others in the Justice Department.
But Mr.
McCloskey hailed the announcement of the fund, saying that he would seek money
from it for his current clients and that he expected more Jan. 6 rioters to
come forward asking for payouts.
“I was
somewhat skeptical at first because lots of things get said,” Mr. McCloskey
said. “But it looks like this is a done deal. I’m really excited to see what
they come up with.”
Judge
Williams had been considering dismissing Mr. Trump’s I.R.S. suit on her own
because he effectively controls both his personal lawyers bringing the
complaint and the government lawyers who are supposed to respond to it. She had
ordered the Justice Department, which has yet to make an appearance or filing
in the case, and Mr. Trump’s lawyers to brief her by Wednesday to explain
whether they were actually in opposition — or were colluding to achieve a
mutually agreeable outcome.
In their
filing on Monday, Mr. Trump’s lawyers said their dismissal meant that “no
judicial analysis is appropriate” for the suit.
The
substance of Mr. Trump’s suit stems from the leak of his tax returns to The New
York Times in 2019. Mr. Trump, two of his sons and his family business argue
that the I.R.S. should have done more to prevent a former contractor from
leaking tax information to The Times and ProPublica.
While
federal law allows for people to sue the I.R.S. when their tax information is
leaked, legal experts saw clear flaws in Mr. Trump’s suit and said the Justice
Department had defended other, similar cases brought by plaintiffs who were not
the president.
Just
minutes after Mr. Trump’s lawyers informed Judge Williams of their intention to
dismiss the suit, 93 Democratic lawmakers filed court papers accusing the
Justice Department of having “colluded” with Mr. Trump and asking the judge to
throw out the case herself.
“Never in
the history of the United States has a sitting president sought a monetary
settlement from the government he leads — let alone sought many billions of
dollars in taxpayer funds,” lawyers for the lawmakers wrote.
The
filing by the lawmakers suggested how jarringly Mr. Trump’s move had
short-circuited normal court business. The president’s lawyers essentially beat
the lawmakers to the draw by dismissing the case on their own, hamstringing the
lawmakers’ ability to stop a settlement from going through.
But
lawyers for the lawmakers argued that judge still had the power not to accept
the dismissal given its unusual nature. It is also possible to bring a separate
lawsuit directly challenging the validity of the compensation fund, but it
remains unclear who would have the legal standing to do so.
