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- The Department of Justice will not operate a planned $1.8 billion compensation fund that was created to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump against the Internal Revenue Service, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to a House panel on Tuesday.
- But Trump, his family members, and related business entities remain protected from tax audits and enforcement actions in connection with tax returns filed before last month’s out-of-court settlement of his lawsuit, Blanche said.
- “We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche told Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science.
- Blanche said the DOJ would not operate the fund, regardless of the outcome of several lawsuits that were filed challenging its legality.
Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies at House Appropriations Committee Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee hearing on oversight of the Department of Justice, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 2, 2026. Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images
The Department of Justice will end a planned $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization compensation fund that was created to settle a lawsuit by President Donald Trump against the Internal Revenue Service, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to a House panel on Tuesday.
But Trump, his family members, and related business entities remain protected from tax audits and enforcement actions in connection with tax returns filed before last month’s out-of-court settlement of his lawsuit, Blanche said.
Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s criminal defense attorney, personally signed off on the DOJ’s May 19 addendum to the settlement that gave Trump and his family that protection, a day after the settlement was announced.
“We are not moving forward with the fund, period,” Blanche told Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science.
Blanche repeatedly told Meng that the DOJ would not operate the fund, regardless of the outcome of several lawsuits that were filed challenging its legality.
The fund was designed to compensate people who were purportedly the victims of prosecutorial overreach by the DOJ under the Biden administration.
Critics of the fund, who included Republican senators, opposed it because of the lack of legislative oversight over the fund, and concerns that it would pay people convicted of attacking police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
The acting attorney general’s statement came a day after the DOJ said it “will abide by” a federal judge’s ruling that temporarily blocked the fund from operating or dispensing money to claimants.
That statement left critics of the fund, including Republican senators, concerned that the DOJ would restart it if and when that block was lifted.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who was speaking at the CNBC CEO Council Summit as Blanche testified, said, “I am not confident the weaponization fund will not go forward.”
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