Trump Abandons $1.8bn Anti-Weaponization Fund After Bipartisan Backlash
The Guardian reported Monday that President Donald Trump has stepped back from a controversial $1.8bn anti-weaponization fund. The reversal follows sustained pressure from both parties and renewed judicial scrutiny.
What Was the Fund?
The Trump anti-weaponization fund emerged from an out-of-court settlement in Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS case traced back to January 2024. An IRS contractor was sentenced to five years in prison. The contractor had leaked confidential tax data on high-net-worth individuals.
Those leaked records showed Trump paid just $750 in federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. He reportedly paid no federal income taxes in ten of the prior fifteen years.
Trump originally sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak. The administration then quietly overruled the agency’s own legal team. The IRS had internally assessed the case as weak and recommended contesting it.
Settlement Terms Sparked Outrage
Under the settlement terms, federal authorities would be permanently barred from auditing past tax filings from Trump and his family. The deal also created a $1.8bn pool of taxpayer money. That pool was framed as restitution for individuals subjected to what the administration called “weaponized lawfare.”
Critics immediately labeled the arrangement a slush fund. Commentators described it as a mechanism for rewarding political allies while indirectly benefiting Trump’s own family.
Rare Republican Opposition
Pushback came from an unlikely corner. More than a dozen Republican senators urged the administration to abandon the fund. YouGov polling found majorities in both parties opposed the arrangement. That degree of cross-party resistance marked an unusual moment in Trump’s second term.
A bipartisan coalition of federal judges filed a lawsuit in Florida. They argued the settlement was the product of collusion and constituted a fraud on the court. A federal judge subsequently reopened the original case to scrutinize the agreement’s legitimacy.
Background: A Pattern of Legal Maneuvering
The IRS lawsuit fits into a broader pattern that legal observers have flagged across Trump’s second term. Analysts note an escalating willingness to deploy executive authority in legally novel ways. Each episode has tested institutional guardrails that were once considered settled.
The fund’s retreat does not resolve all related legal questions. Court proceedings remain active, and the administration’s audit immunity provision faces continued challenge.
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