[ May 19, 2026 ]
Axios reports: President Trump settled his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS on Monday in exchange for a $1.776 billion fund to compensate those who claim they were targets of government “weaponization.” The fund creates an unprecedented, taxpayer-backed mechanism to compensate people who claim they were wrongfully targeted, potentially including Jan. 6 defendants. Multiple news outlets had reported earlier that Trump was considering launching the nearly $1.8 billion fund as part of the talks to resolve his lawsuit. Trump, his sons and the Trump organization will receive a formal apology but no payment under the settlement’s terms. Trump sued the IRS after a former contractor leaked his confidential tax returns to The New York Times and ProPublica during his first term. The contractor pleaded guilty and was sentenced to federal prison. The filing says the case was dismissed “with prejudice,” which means Trump can’t refile it (Axios). Wall Street Journal: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will appoint a five-person commission to administer the “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” which will last through Dec. 15, 2028, and have the power to issue apologies and pay people who submit claims. Trump will be able to fire commission members (Wall Street Journal).
BREAKING
President Trump DROPS his historic $10 BILLION lawsuit against the IRS after leaking his personal tax information in exchange for a $1.776 billion COMPENSATION FUND for those unfairly targeted and prosecuted by the Biden Administration.
Source: ABC News pic.twitter.com/crHW7Rj8af
— Conservative Brief (@ConservBrief) May 18, 2026
Politics
U.S. creates $1.8B ‘lawfare’ fund in exchange for Trump dropping $10B IRS suitADVERTISEMENTBy: CNBC, May 18 2026:
In exchange, the Department of Justice is creating a $1.8 billion fund to settle claims by people who allege they are victims of so-called lawfare.
Democrats said the money will be a “slush fund” for allies of Trump.U.S. to create ‘anti-weaponization fund’ in exchange for Trump dropping $10B IRS suit
President Donald Trump, his two eldest sons and the Trump Organization dropped their $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service on Monday in exchange for the Department of Justice creating a $1.776 billion fund to settle claims by people who allege they are victims of so-called lawfare.
A Miami federal court filing by Trump’s lawyers dropping the lawsuit suggested it effectively barred a judge from analyzing whether the president’s civil suit was legally valid and from dismissing it if she found it was invalid.
ADVERTISEMENTThe move came days after ABC News reported the DOJ was negotiating the settlement, which was blasted by Democratic members of Congress who called the then-expected deal a “slush fund” for allies of Trump who had been prosecuted under the Biden administration.
Trump sued the IRS in late January over the leak of his tax information by an IRS employee, Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn, in 2019 and 2020.
In addition to dropping that lawsuit, the plaintiffs also agreed that, in exchange for the creation of this fund, Trump will withdraw two administrative claims, “including for damages resulting from the unlawful raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Russia-collusion hoax,” the DOJ said in a statement.
“The machinery of government should never be weaponized against any American, and it is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” said acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a statement.
″“As part of this settlement, we are setting up a lawful process for victims of lawfare and weaponization to be heard and seek redress,” Blanche said.
The DOJ said the fund will have “the power to issue formal apologies and monetary relief owed to claimants.”
The new “Anti-Weaponization Fund” will get its money from the DOJ’s judgment fund, which is a perpetual appropriation that allows the department to settle and pay cases.
ADVERTISEMENTThe DOJ said the new fund will stop processing claims no later than Dec. 15, 2028.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team, in a statement, said, “President Trump, his family, supporters, and countless other America First Patriots were illegally targeted by the Democrat-lead law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice, and the IRS.”
“The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated actor to unlawfully leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to left-wing news outlets such the New York Times and ProPublica, which was then illegally released to millions of people,” the spokesman said. “Similarly, President Trump was also the victim of illegal harassment and invasions of privacy as part of the politically motivated and completely discredited Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and the wrongful, election interfering raid of his home at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.”
“President Trump is entering into this settlement squarely for the benefit of the American people, and he will continue his fight to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable,” the spokesman said.
The advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington blasted the settlement, calling it “one of the single most corrupt acts in American history.”
“While Americans are struggling with an affordability crisis, President Trump plans to use nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to pay off his friends and allies – including potentially the violent insurrectionists who attacked the Capitol on January 6th,” said CREW President Donald Sherman in a statement.
“By settling his absurd $10 billion lawsuit against his own administration, Trump and the Justice Department just engaged in the most brazen act of self-dealing in the history of the presidency, and did so quickly in order to avoid the scrutiny of the judicial process, while quite likely violating the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause in the process,” Sherman said.
“This is corruption on steroids,” Warren wrote.
Monday’s court filing noted that Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and The Trump Organization were voluntarily dismissing the lawsuit against the IRS “with prejudice.”
“With prejudice” means the plaintiffs can not renew the same claims in another civil complaint.
The notice of dismissal came two days before a deadline set by U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams for the DOJ and Trump’s attorneys to answer whether a “case and controversy exists in this matter so as to establish the Court’s jurisdiction.”
Williams’ question suggested that because Trump is suing “entities whose decisions are subject to his direction,” there might not be enough actual adversity between the parties to satisfy a constitutional requirement that federal courts only adjudicate cases or controversies.
The filing on Monday said Trump’s dismissal means “no judicial analysis is appropriate, and any ‘subsequent order purporting to dismiss “all claims” . . . [would be] a nullity.’”
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a statement, said, “Regardless of whether Trump filed this lawsuit with a personal payday or a slush fund in mind, he deserves no credit for dropping it, and even by his standards the move he’s trying to get away with now is a stunning act of corruption.”
“What Trump wants is a $1.7 billion slush fund for right-wing political violence and subversion, and if he follows through, it will be the most brazen theft and abuse of taxpayer dollars by any president in American history,” Wyden said.
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