US officials have discussed creating a $1.7 billion federal fund to pay victims of so-called government weaponization to resolve President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Million-dollar payouts the administration has already made to some of his supporters provide a roadmap for where the money might go.
The settlement talks have taken place ahead of a key deadline next week in Trump’s $10 billion suit seeking to hold the IRS liable for the 2019 leak of his tax information, according to people familiar with the discussions. One of the people, who asked not to be identified as the conversations were private, said officials are considering the fund option as well as possibly dropping audits into the president, his family and his businesses. ABC News earlier reported the fund possibility.
No decisions have been made about the fund’s size. It would be open for claims regardless of a claimant’s political party, but details of how disbursements would be approved are still being negotiated.
Even if Trump doesn’t get a payout, any funding arrangement is likely to raise questions about whether the president and other US officials are improperly using taxpayer dollars to settle personal and political scores. Trump and his allies have often claimed the federal government under former President Joe Biden “weaponized” enforcement of the law, targeting conservatives for their political affiliation.
