The $1.776 billion fund was established as part of an agreement to settle Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the I.R.S. over the leak of his tax returns. Under the agreement, the President, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization will also receive a formal apology, but no direct monetary damages.
Read more: Trump Drops IRS Suit Amid Reports of Deal for $1.7 Billion ‘Weaponization’ Fund
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the fund is intended to provide “a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress.”
According to the DOJ, the fund will receive $1.776 billion from the federal Judgment Fund, a permanent Treasury appropriation used to pay certain legal settlements and judgments against the federal government.
Justice Department officials said submitting the claims will be voluntary, and that there will be “no partisan requirements” for eligibility.
Who could receive compensation or apologies through the fund?
While the DOJ did not release detailed eligibility criteria, officials said the fund is intended for individuals who believe they were improperly targeted by the federal government on political, personal, or ideological grounds.
Trump has for years claimed that the Biden Administration weaponized the Department of Justice against him and his allies for political purposes, pointing to multiple federal investigations, including charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after leaving office. Several of his aides and supporters have also faced prosecution in connection with the Jan. 6 attack and other efforts to challenge the election outcome.
The department has not yet announced when applications will open or how claims will be evaluated.
Backlash from Democrats and ethics experts
On Monday, 93 House Democrats filed an amicus brief in federal court seeking to block any potential settlement, warning that the arrangement creates a “specter of corruption unparalleled in American history” and could allow Trump to improperly direct public funds to himself, his family, and his allies.
In the motion, they requested that U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams dismiss Trump’s lawsuit and subject any agreement between the President and his Administration to close scrutiny.
The top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, who was among the lawmakers leading the legal challenge, accused the Administration of “finding new ways to steal from the American people” in a post on X and said Democrats were acting to “protect the money you’ve worked hard to earn.”
“Trump deserves no credit for dropping this lawsuit. He's doing it to set up a $1.7 billion slush fund for right-wing political violence,” Sen. Ron Wyden wrote on X. “If Trump follows through, it will be the most brazen theft of taxpayer dollars by any president in history.”
Critics have also pointed to Blanche's role in the settlement, noting that the acting Attorney General previously served as Trump’s personal defense attorney, including in the federal cases against the President over his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and mishandling of classified documents.
When asked for comment, the White House referred TIME to the DOJ. The DOJ referred TIME to its press release announcing the fund.
“Most notably,” in the department’s words, it pointed to the settlement of the Keepseagle v. Vilsack lawsuit, in which the Obama Administration established a $760 million fund to compensate Native American farmers and ranchers who alleged discrimination by the Department of Agriculture.
The DOJ noted that, unlike in the case of the new fund, hundreds of millions of dollars left over from the one created in the Keepseagle settlement were later distributed to nonprofit organizations “that had not even submitted claims.”
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