What’s Trump’s ‘anti-weaponisation fund’ and why are legal experts alarmed?

Democrats argue that the fund will be used to compensate January 6 rioters pardoned by Trump. The United States Department of Justice has introduced an “anti-weaponisation fund” that will be used to financially compensate people who claim they have been unfairly targeted by the federal government. The fund, announced on Monday, is part of a settlement arising from a lawsuit that President Donald Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this year, blaming it for a leak of his tax information. How did the ‘anti-weaponisation fund’ come about? Between 2018 and 2020, Trump’s tax information was leaked to The New York Times. In 2023, Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former contractor at the IRS, was accused of providing those tax returns, according to a statement from the US Justice Department. The Times, citing the returns, reported in 2020 that Trump, a billionaire, had paid little or no federal income taxes over 15 years. The IRS is the US government’s revenue service responsible for collecting federal taxes and enforcing tax laws. Littlejohn pleaded guilty to disclosing the returns and in 2024 was sentenced to five years in prison. In January, Trump sued the IRS and Department of the Treasury, which are part of his own government, for $10bn, accusing the agencies of failing to prevent the leak of his tax information. On Tuesday, the office of the attorney general in Washington DC, announced the establishment of the “anti-weaponisation fund” as part of a settlement agreement between the two sides. “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,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who was appointed by Trump, was quoted as saying in a Justice Department news release published on Monday. “As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.” How will the fund work? The fund will receive just under $1.8bn, which will come from a separate “judgement fund”, a standing government account from which the US government pays legal settlements and court judgements without requiring an act of Congress each time. People who believe they have been harmed by unfair legal action by the federal government may seek compensation from the new fund by filing a claim. Every three months, the fund is supposed to issue a report to the attorney general that is to include details about who has received payments or relief and whether that is in a cash payment, debt relief or some other form of compensation. The fund is to be overseen by a team of five people appointed by the attorney general. One member of that panel will be appointed in consultation with congressional leaders. The fund is to operate until December 1, 2028, after which it is to stop accepting new claims. Because the fund was established as part of a Justice Department settlement and has already been approved by a federal judge, it does not require any further approvals to become operational. However, critics are calling for Congress to intervene. Why is the fund controversial? Some Democrats are objecting to the creation of this fund, and several legal experts have argued that using a legal settlement to create such a large compensation scheme pushes the limits of executive authority. They said they believe the fund will ultimately be used to pay off Trump supporters who rioted at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, but have since been pardoned by Trump himself. On January 6, 2021, thousands of rioters, fuelled by false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged against Trump, stormed the Capitol to try to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. More than 2,000 people broke into the seat of the US Congress, vandalised offices and fought with police. Five people were killed and others injured. About 1,270 people were convicted of federal crimes linked to the riot, and their prison sentences ranged from a few years to more than two decades for leaders of far-right groups. On the day he was inaugurated for his second presidential term in January last year, Trump pardoned or commuted the sentences of 1,500 people who had been convicted or indicted in relation to the riots, calling their treatment “outrageous”. More than 90 Democrats in the House of Representatives filed a legal document to try to block the new fund, according to a news release published on Monday by the office of one of these Democrats, Congressman Seth Moulton. “This taxpayer-funded pool is intended to compensate individuals who claim they were ‘persecuted’ by the previous administration – specifically targeting payouts for January 6th convicts and participants in the ‘fake electors’ conspiracy.” Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, described the fund in an X post as a “$1.7 BILLION slush fund for Trump’s hand-p