Trump’s $1.8 Billion ‘Weaponization Fund’ Sparks Scramble For Political Payouts

A controversial $1.8 billion compensation fund created by the Donald Trump administration is rapidly turning into one of the strangest political gold rushes in modern American history — with Trump allies, January 6 defendants and even some of the president’s enemies now jockeying for payouts.

At the centre of the storm is the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” created after Trump agreed to drop a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.

The administration says the fund exists to compensate people allegedly harmed by politically motivated prosecutions, investigations, government leaks or abuses of power — what Trump supporters broadly label “lawfare.”

But because the eligibility language is so broad, an extraordinary range of applicants is now preparing claims.

Including one particularly surprising figure:
Michael Cohen.

Michael Cohen Wants A Payout Too

Cohen — once Trump’s loyal fixer before turning star witness against him in the hush-money prosecution — says he is drafting an application arguing he himself was politically destroyed by abusive government tactics.

“If the Weaponization Fund truly exists to support individuals destroyed by politically motivated law-enforcement tactics,” Cohen reportedly wrote in his draft claim, “there is perhaps no clearer example than what happened to me.”

The irony is extraordinary:

Michael Cohen

a man who helped prosecute Trump now seeking compensation from a Trump-created political grievance fund.

January 6 Defendants Prepare Claims

Perhaps the largest and most politically explosive group preparing applications are the more than 1,500 Trump supporters prosecuted over the January 6 Capitol riot.

Many received pardons or clemency after Trump returned to office.

Now some are reportedly seeking seven-figure compensation packages for:

• Lost jobs

• Legal costs

• Prison time

• Business collapses

• Reputational damage

Treniss Evans said he intends to seek more than $1 million.

“It caused the loss of jobs, it caused businesses to fold, it caused relationships to fall apart,” he said.

Lawmakers are already raising alarm about the possibility of taxpayer-funded payouts going to individuals convicted of assaulting police officers during the Capitol attack.

Russiagate Figures Line Up

Several longtime Trump associates caught up in the Russia investigations are also preparing claims.

Among them:

• Roger Stone

• Sam Nunberg

• Michael Caputo

Caputo has reportedly already submitted the first known formal request — demanding $2.7 million.

Stone, whose prison sentence was commuted by Trump, says legal battles forced him and his wife to sell most of their possessions.

Nunberg argues the Mueller probe damaged both his finances and personal life.

Culture War Claims Emerging Too

The fund is now expanding far beyond Trumpworld.

Conservative activist groups, anti-abortion campaigners and parental rights organisations are all exploring whether they qualify.

The Justice Department itself has suggested anti-abortion protesters prosecuted under federal clinic access laws may be eligible.

Moms for Liberty is reportedly considering restitution claims tied to investigations during the Biden administration.

Meanwhile, even anti-Trump immigration protesters in Chicago reportedly say they plan to apply after criminal cases against them were dropped.

Critics Warn Of A Political Reparations Machine

The fund has triggered bipartisan unease because almost nothing about it is fully defined.

No public application portal exists yet.
No payout standards have been published.
And the five-member commission that will decide claims has not even been named.

Critics warn the entire project risks becoming a taxpayer-funded political reparations system designed to reward ideological allies and rewrite controversial episodes of recent American history.

Supporters counter that many Americans were genuinely targeted through politically motivated investigations, aggressive prosecutions and selective enforcement during years of escalating partisan warfare.

Either way, the scale is staggering.

What began as a settlement tied to one lawsuit is now morphing into something far bigger:
a financial reckoning over who, exactly, counts as a victim in America’s age of permanent political conflict.

SOURCE

So have I got this right?

The story is really about this:

• The Trump administration has created a huge compensation fund for people it says were unfairly targeted by government agencies (“weaponization” or “lawfare”).

• The fund could hand out billions of dollars.

• But the rules are still vague.

• So now everyone from January 6 defendants to former Trump aides — and even some Trump critics like Michael Cohen — are trying to claim they were victims too.

• That’s why the article feels politically surreal: allies, enemies, activists and conspiracy figures are all lining up for potential payouts from the same pot of money.

The really explosive part is the precedent:
a government effectively paying political grievance claims on a mass scale.

That’s why critics are alarmed — especially over the possibility of payouts to people convicted over the January 6 Capitol riot, including those involved in violence against police.

The article also hints at a looming political and legal battle:

• Who decides who counts as a “victim”?

• What standard of proof is needed?

• Can opponents of Trump qualify too?

• And could courts or Congress shut the whole thing down before money is distributed?

So beneath all the personalities and chaos, it’s fundamentally a story about:
power, revenge politics, selective justice — and potentially enormous taxpayer payouts...........

Oh, the irony — equality under the law?

The penalty for the three so far who wanted to assassinate President Trump likely means life in prison.

Yet for the Jan 6th mob wanting to hang the Vice President — stand back and stand by — with a pardon and a golden handshake.

Edited May 22May 22 by LosLobo

The $1,776 billion is merely a smokescreen. The only thing Trump cares about is the clause he added at the last minute to prevent the IRS from investigating Trump, his families, and businesses for tax irregularities.

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The justice department quietly added a provision barring the IRS from auditing Donald Trump’s tax returns on Tuesday, amending a widely criticized agreement that creates a secretive and loosely controlled $1.776bn fund to compensate allies of the president.

The addendum, signed by Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, says the government is “forever barred” and “precluded” from examining the tax returns of Trump, his family, company and “related companies”. The agreement applies to anything filed before the agreement was reached. It was posted on the justice department website on Tuesday morning, a day after the department announced creation of the fund.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/19/trump-irs-settlement-tax-returns

Posts with derogatory nicknames, intentional misspellings, or personal remarks will be removed. Spell names correctly for all sides of the debate.

I'm guessing this is all aimed at the future rather than the past......Mr Trump is planning the next insurrection and needs to sweeten the pot for would be helpers.

All of America's checks and balances have either failed or been stripped away.

Who could possibly have imagined the egregiousness both of a theft of this magnitude and the fact that it is being done so brazenly with not the slightest pretence of legality.

There is a lot worse to come. We are witnessing the end of an empire.

1 hour ago, gargamon said:

The $1,776 billion is merely a smokescreen. The only thing Trump cares about is the clause he added at the last minute to prevent the IRS from investigating Trump, his families, and businesses for tax irregularities.

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The justice department quietly added a provision barring the IRS from auditing Donald Trump’s tax returns on Tuesday, amending a widely criticized agreement that creates a secretive and loosely controlled $1.776bn fund to compensate allies of the president.

The addendum, signed by Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, says the government is “forever barred” and “precluded” from examining the tax returns of Trump, his family, company and “related companies”. The agreement applies to anything filed before the agreement was reached. It was posted on the justice department website on Tuesday morning, a day after the department announced creation of the fund.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/19/trump-irs-settlement-tax-returns

The Trump crime family has outstanding tax liabilities and judgments for tax fraud with penalties, likely in the hundreds of millions.

An audit of Trump Chicago Tower exposed a $100M tax bill from a double-dipped expense deduction, and a tax debt from a forgiven $287M from a defaulted Deutsche Bank loan hidden by a 'ghost' account.

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-audit-chicago-hotel-taxes

This will be the shortest lived fund ever. The courts are going to dissolve it immediately, as well as the IRS clause.

49 minutes ago, cjinchiangrai said:

This will be the shortest lived fund ever. The courts are going to dissolve it immediately, as well as the IRS clause.

With the state of the corruption in the admin and judicial i would not be so sure !! America is starting to become a failed country !!

2 hours ago, MikeandDow said:

With the state of the corruption in the admin and judicial i would not be so sure !! America is starting to become a failed country !!

Normally I would agree, but this is so far over the line that it has to be tossed.