WASHINGTON – Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) on Tuesday will make Democrats’ first effort to put Republicans on the record regarding President Donald Trump’s new controversial settlement fund. During a committee vote on Republicans’ bill to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, HuffPost has learned that Gallego will offer an amendment to the legislation to bar the government from establishing a commission like the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” the Trump administration announced Monday. Republicans will likely vote the amendment down, but it will be an awkward vote that could be construed as supporting the president’s controversial scheme to reward political allies with cash settlements. The Justice Department announced the $1.7 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” on Monday as the result of a settlement between the Trump administration and Trump himself. Earlier this year, he sued the IRS for $10 billion in his capacity as a private citizen, over a past leak of his tax information. The government said Trump and his family won’t receive compensation as part of the deal. The settlement was reached before the judge overseeing the case could have thrown it out because the opposing parties were actually on the same side. The fund will “provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims” of people who, like Trump supposedly did, “suffered weaponization and lawfare” by the government under President Joe Biden, the Justice Department said. Although the department didn’t say exactly who could apply for cash payouts, it’s likely that people charged with crimes related to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, will be eligible. Democrats have slammed the scheme as a slush fund for Trump’s henchmen. “Of all the corrupt things Donald Trump has done, this MAGA slush fund at the Department of Justice is one of the most depraved,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday. “Trump is shaking hands with himself in order to fund his insurrectionist army to the tune of $2 billion.”The weaponization fund appears to be at least partly the brainchild of Mark McCloskey, an attorney who has filed administrative personal injury claims on behalf of hundreds of Jan. 6 rioters. McCloskey told HuffPost the fund is similar to the compensation scheme he’s lobbied the Justice Department to create since last year. Gallego intends to offer his amendment during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, one of two panels overseeing legislation to fund ICE. The White House has also pushed Republicans to include $1 billion for Trump’s White House ballroom in the bill. Close