{"id":729828,"date":"2026-05-27T12:45:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/trumps-1-776b-anti-weaponization-payday-has-the-gop-pissed\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T12:45:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T09:45:18","slug":"trumps-1-776b-anti-weaponization-payday-has-the-gop-pissed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/trumps-1-776b-anti-weaponization-payday-has-the-gop-pissed\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s $1.776B anti-weaponization payday has the GOP &#8216;pissed&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3d3ff93e208\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3d3ff93e208\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/trumps-1-776b-anti-weaponization-payday-has-the-gop-pissed\/#%E2%80%9CTrumps_1776B_anti-weaponization_payday_has_the_GOP_%E2%80%98pissed%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Trump&#8217;s $1.776B anti-weaponization payday has the GOP &#8216;pissed&#8217;&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1>&#8220;Trump&#8217;s $1.776B anti-weaponization payday has the GOP &#8216;pissed'&#8221;<\/h1>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F05%2Funited-states-president-donald-j-128719688.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Last week, Republican senators grilled Acting Attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">General<\/a> Todd Blanche about the $1.8 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d created by President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0settlement\u00a0of his lawsuit against the IRS.<\/p>\n<p>About 45 senators attended the meeting, and \u201cat least half of them were blasting the attorney general,\u201d\u00a0Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)\u00a0reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey were pissed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not hard to see why.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit that provided the pretext for using taxpayer money to compensate purported victims of \u201clawfare and weaponization\u201d was legally dubious, the fund has nothing to do with Trump\u2019s claims against the IRS \u2014 and the main beneficiaries are apt to be the president\u2019s allies and supporters.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0lawsuit\u00a0pitted Trump against agencies he oversees, represented by government lawyers who are forbidden, under an\u00a0executive order\u00a0that Trump issued in February 2025, to \u201cadvance an interpretation of the law\u201d that \u201ccontravenes\u201d the president\u2019s position.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>That bizarre situation prompted the federal judge overseeing the case to\u00a0question\u00a0whether it involved a genuine controversy between adverse parties, as required for the lawsuit to proceed.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit was provoked by IRS contractor Charles Littlejohn\u2019s\u00a0illegal leaking\u00a0of Trump\u2019s tax returns.<\/p>\n<p>But Trump filed his complaint\u00a0too late: more than two years after Littlejohn\u00a0pleaded guilty\u00a0to what Trump\u2019s personal attorney accurately called \u201can egregious breach.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Trump\u2019s May 18\u00a0settlement agreement\u00a0with the IRS, Littlejohn\u2019s leaks, which included confidential information about\u00a0thousands\u00a0of wealthy Americans, epitomized Democrats\u2019 use of government power to \u201ctarget individuals, groups, and entities for improper and unlawful political, personal, and\/or ideological reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although that\u2019s a counterintuitive way to describe the conduct of a rogue contractor who was prosecuted by the Biden administration, it\u2019s the only attempt to justify the Anti-Weaponization Fund as a logical result of Trump\u2019s litigation.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s\u00a0highly unusual\u00a0for the Justice Department to settle a lawsuit by agreeing to pay people whose grievances are completely unrelated to the plaintiff\u2019s claims, which in this case involved the IRS\u2019 allegedly lax oversight of its contractors.<\/p>\n<p>Such settlements, in fact, are prohibited by a\u00a0rule\u00a0that the Justice Department issued during Trump\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n<p>That rule, which then-Attorney General Pam Bondi\u00a0reaffirmed\u00a0in February 2025, generally prohibits settlement payments to \u201ca non-governmental person or entity that is not a party to the dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are a few limited exceptions, none of which seem to <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>ly in this case.<\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s settlement agreement\u00a0arbitrarily assigns\u00a0$1.776 billion to the Anti-Weaponization Fund \u2014 a reference to the nation\u2019s founding year that the agreement preposterously claims is \u201cbased on the projected valuation of future claimants\u2019 claims.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The five members of the board charged with doling out that money will be appointed by the attorney general and can be removed by the president \u201cwithout cause\u201d at any time.<\/p>\n<p>Although the Justice Department\u00a0says\u00a0\u201cthere are no partisan requirements to file a claim,\u201d it seems clear the process will favor Trump\u2019s friends.<\/p>\n<p>The board, the composition of which is completely subject to Trump\u2019s control, will \u201ccease processing claims\u201d a month and a half before he leaves office, and the settlement agreement describes \u201clawfare and weaponization\u201d as abuses peculiar to Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!\u201d Trump\u00a0explained\u00a0on Truth <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/social-mediaa\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"1\" title=\"Social Media\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Social<\/a> Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Those \u201cothers\u201d presumably include the 1,600 or so Trump supporters who were arrested (and later\u00a0pardoned\u00a0by Trump) for participating in the 2021 Capitol riot.<\/p>\n<p>The prospect that the fund \u201ccould potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer\u201d is \u201cabsurd,\u201d Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)\u00a0remarked\u00a0last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) likewise\u00a0said\u00a0\u201ca slush fund to pay people who assault cops\u201d was \u201cutterly stupid\u201d and \u201cmorally wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m supposed to work out a settlement with myself,\u201d Trump\u00a0acknowledged\u00a0a few days after suing the IRS.<\/p>\n<p>The upshot of his admitted self-dealing is an arrangement so\u00a0brazenly corrupt\u00a0that even Republicans are having trouble accepting it. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p><em>Jacob Sullum is a senior editor at Reason magazine.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" >News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/05\/27\/opinion\/trumps-1-776b-anti-weaponization-payday-has-the-gop-pissed\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Trump&#8217;s $1.776B anti-weaponization payday has the GOP &#8216;pissed&#8217;&#8221; Last week, Republican senators grilled Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche about the $1.8 billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d created by President Donald Trump\u2019s\u00a0settlement\u00a0of his lawsuit against the IRS. About 45 senators attended the meeting, and \u201cat least half of them were blasting the attorney general,\u201d\u00a0Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)\u00a0reported. \u201cThey&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":729829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/05\/united-states-president-donald-j-128719688.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[162445,70673,4941,73434,70514,70446,67844],"class_list":["post-729828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-5-27-26","tag-corruption","tag-donald-trump","tag-irs","tag-justice-department","tag-lawsuits","tag-republicans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}