Federal Judge Temporarily Blocks Creation and Payouts From $8 Billion Government Targeting Settlement Fund

A federal judge issued a ruling last week that temporarily blocked payouts from the $8 billion anti-weaponization fund. S. government is also barred from moving forward with the fund’s creation while litigation is pending.

The Department of Justice stated it “disagrees strongly” with the judge’s ruling but will abide by the Court’s ruling. The Department of Justice created the fund to settle a lawsuit Trump personally brought against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.

The settlement includes a clause permanently barring the IRS from pursuing any tax claims against Trump and his businesses that were filed before May 19.

An analysis by Forbes found the tax immunity clause would save Trump and his family more than $600 million. The White House declined to comment on whether the administration would also make changes to the tax immunity clause. The fund was structured to accept claims from anyone who said they had been targeted by the government.

The $8 billion fund to compensate victims of alleged government weaponization has been put on hold after the White House faced fierce opposition from Republicans in Congress, three sources familiar with the plan said. Senate Republicans publicly revolted against the fund. A closed-door meeting last month between Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and GOP senators grew heated.

Roughly 45 Senate Republicans attended the meeting. Sen. Ted Cruz described the meeting as “angry” in an episode of his podcast last month. On Monday, California Sen. Adam Schiff, along with Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, introduced a bill that would bar any payout arising from a lawsuit filed by a president or vice president.

“If Republicans are serious about ending this brazenly corrupt scheme, they should have no problem voting for legislation banning any president from creating such a slush fund in the future,” Schiff wrote on X. Schumer vowed to force a floor vote to make Republican lawmakers take a public stance on the issue.

Judge Leonie Brinkema, who was nominated to the bench by President Clinton, has scheduled a June 12 hearing for argument on whether to extend the order blocking the fund.

U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.