President Trump said Monday that members of his family and Jan. 6 defendants could receive taxpayer-funded payments from his $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that will pay reparations to people he said were treated unfairly by the Biden administration.
The president said a committee administering the fund would decide if his family member and people prosecuted for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capital would be eligible for payments.
“A committee is being set up, very talented people, highly respected people,” he said. “You have families absolutely destroyed, and it’s all going to be determined by a committee of four or five people that are respected and very brilliant at what they do.”
Mr. Trump said last year that there should be compensation for people who were targeted by the Biden administration.
The Justice Department announced that the fund would be created “in exchange” for Mr. Trump and co-plaintiffs, which include the Trump Organization and his two oldest sons, dropping their lawsuit against the IRS for releasing his tax returns and claims of damages in connection with the FBI’s 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago residence and Russian collusion probe.
The fund was established before the IRS case was settled.
Under the structure, the massive fund would give Mr. Trump’s allies, including Jan. 6 defendants pardoned by the president, a mechanism to seek taxpayer payouts for claims of government overreach. The fund can also issue formal apologies to people who made claims against the government.
The fund will stop processing claims on Dec. 15, 2028, about a month before Mr. Trump’s second term ends. Justice Department lawyers say nearly $1.8 billion total was based “upon the projected valuation of future claimants’ claims.”
Democrats have blasted the move as a $1.7 billion “slush fund” that Mr. Trump will use to reward allies, nearly 1,600 defendants convicted or charged in connection with the riot, which aimed to stop the certification of President Biden’s 2020 election victory.
Rep. Jaime Raskin, Maryland Democrat, called the fund “pure fraud and highway robbery,” while Rep. Joe Neguse, Colorado Democrat, called it “one of the most brazen examples of corruption we’ve seen from this administration.”
The attorney general will appoint five members of the commission overseeing the fund, including one member to be chosen in consultation with congressional leadership, the Justice Department said. Mr. Trump can remove any members from the commission at any time, according to the memo establishing the fund.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who issued the memo establishing the fund, said the “machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American,” and the payouts will “make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again.”
