UPDATE 5/18/26 12:05 pm ET: Minutes after publication of this article, new developments were announced — the settlement fund has been agreed to:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday announced the creation a $1.7 billion fund to compensate allies of the Republican president who believe they were mistreated by the Biden administration Justice Department.
The “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was announced by the Justice Department as part of a deal to resolve President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the leak of his tax returns.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in announcing the fund in a statement that it was “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
Original story:
During Donald Trump’s first presidential term, the Deep State came out in full force and did everything in its power to destroy him. He faced two bogus impeachment efforts by the Democrats, an extended effort to prove him guilty of colluding with Russia, and a seemingly endless cycle of anonymous sources telling the mainstream media that he was secretly an enemy of the state.
On several occasions, pages of his tax returns were illegally released, and in 2020, the New York Times published an investigation based on anonymous sources covering six years of his tax data. He sued the Internal Revenue Service for $10 billion in January — but on Monday, he reportedly agreed to drop the effort. Some reports indicate that he is still negotiating with the IRS for a $1.7 billion fund to benefit the victims of government overreach, but it is unclear where that stands.
US President Donald Trump dropped a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Monday that was seeking $10 billion in damages for a leak of his tax returns.
In a filing with a federal district court in Florida, Trump, his two eldest sons Eric and Donald Jr. and the Trump Organization said they were withdrawing the action.
A former IRS contractor was convicted in 2023 of leaking the tax returns of Trump and other wealthy Americans to the media and received a five-year prison sentence.
Trump's decision to withdraw the suit appeared to be linked to a move to create a $1.7 billion compensation fund for the Republican president's political allies who were investigated under Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.
Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin (MD-08), who was the lead House impeachment manager during Trump’s second impeachment and is always looking to weaponize the government against the president and conservatives, is already shrieking about any settlement:
Rep. Jamie Raskin says the Democrats will “undoubtedly” take legal action against a potential settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, and urges his Republican colleagues to do the same.
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) May 17, 2026
“It's an utterly lawless plan that is being forwarded, and if our Republican… pic.twitter.com/w8o7vb1Qtf
Rep. Jamie Raskin says the Democrats will “undoubtedly” take legal action against a potential settlement of President Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS, and urges his Republican colleagues to do the same.
“It's an utterly lawless plan that is being forwarded, and if our Republican colleagues have any respect for the Constitution and the powers of Congress, they will move to block it.”
It was also “lawless” for IRS contractors to leak Trump’s tax info, but I don’t see Raskin creating any investigative tax hearings about that.
Meanwhile, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and numerous other Dems have expressed their predictable outrage, calling the idea "outright corruption." These same people were asleep at the wheel as Biden and his attack dog, Attorney General Merrick Garland, turned the DOJ into their revenge machine.
The settlement fund would benefit those who were targeted by former President Joe Biden’s administration, which turned the power of the federal government against its own people if they didn’t buy into the progressive political narrative:
According to ABC News and other media outlets, Trump's Department of Justice plans to create a so-called "Truth and Justice Commission" for individuals who believe they were unfairly pursued by the Biden administration.
This could include, for example, the hundreds of Trump supporters who were prosecuted for their involvement in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol, which sought to prevent congressional certification of Biden's election victory.
It is unclear why Trump chose to drop the suit now, or if an agreement has been made regarding the fund, but RedState will update you as more information comes out.
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