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May 20, 2026 / 7:12 PM EDT
/ CBS News
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A Republican lawyer and close ally of Ed Martin, the U.S. pardon attorney, has submitted a request to the Justice Department to join a panel that will dispense over $1.7 billion to people who claim they were victims of legal "weaponization," according to a letter obtained by CBS News. On Wednesday evening, lawyer Mike Howell said in a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that he wished to "declare my candidacy for one of the five member positions on the anti-weaponization fund." Blanche is responsible for appointing the members of the commission overseeing the fund, according to a memo he signed this week. The fund was announced Monday as part of the DOJ's settlement of a $10 billion lawsuit that President Trump filed earlier this year against the Internal Revenue Service for the leak of his tax returns."I have testified before the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, and have appeared on national television and radio to lay out the cases of ordinary Americans targeted by federal law enforcement for their political views, their faith, and their exercise of constitutionally protected rights," Howell wrote in the application letter — adding that he has "written, sued, defended, and advocated every single day to this end" and is "not planning on stopping any time soon."If Howell is chosen, it would place him in a powerful position to oversee payments to people who submit claims to the fund, which the DOJ said will operate through the end of 2028.
