The Justice Department‘s new $1.776 billion fund to compensate victims of lawfare is giving Democrats a fresh opportunity to drag Republicans back into politically fraught debates over Jan. 6 just months before the midterm elections.The DOJ announced the fund on Monday as part of its settlement with President Donald Trump, his sons Eric and Donald Jr., and the Trump Organization, after they agreed to drop their $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. They sued the IRS in January after an IRS employee leaked their tax returns in 2019 and 2020.But Democrats argue the taxpayer-funded program could compensate Jan. 6 defendants, including some charged with or convicted of assaulting police officers, reopening an issue Republicans have largely tried to move beyond ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“It’s a bad look for that money to end up in the pockets of Trump’s friends and people who assaulted police officers,” said Claremont McKenna College politics professor John Pitney. “Just picture all the good things he could have done with that money, such as compensating Jeffrey Epstein‘s victims.”
The anti-weaponization fund will be paid for by DOJ’s judgment fund, which is appropriated by Congress to settle cases. Claims will not be processed after December 2028, one month before the end of Trump’s second administration. It remains to be seen if the fund will be challenged in court.
