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US officials have discussed creating a $1.7 billion federal fund\u00a0to pay victims of so-called government weaponization\u00a0to resolve President Donald Trump\u2019s lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service. Million-dollar payouts the administration has already made to some of his\u00a0supporters provide a roadmap for where the money might go.<\/p>\n
The settlement talks have taken place ahead of a key deadline next week in Trump\u2019s $10 billion suit seeking to hold the IRS liable for the 2019 leak of his tax information, according to people familiar with the discussions. One of the people, who asked not to be identified as the conversations were private, said officials are considering the fund option as well as possibly dropping audits into the president, his family and his businesses.\u00a0ABC News earlier\u00a0reported the fund possibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
No decisions have\u00a0been made about the fund\u2019s size. It\u00a0would be open for claims regardless of a\u00a0claimant\u2019s political party, but\u00a0details of how disbursements would be approved\u00a0are still being negotiated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even if Trump doesn\u2019t get a payout, any funding\u00a0arrangement is likely to raise questions about whether the president and other US officials are improperly using taxpayer dollars to settle personal and political scores. Trump and his allies have often claimed the federal government\u00a0under former President Joe Biden\u00a0\u201cweaponized\u201d enforcement of the law, targeting conservatives for their political affiliation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Already,\u00a0under Trump,\u00a0the government has reversed its positions in court cases involving some of his allies and supporters.\u00a0Two people who sued over the 2016 election-interference probe that Trump\u00a0labeled a \u201cwitch hunt\u201d\u00a0received $1.25 million payments. Hundreds of supporters\u00a0charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol \u2013 and later granted clemency by Trump \u2013 are\u00a0seeking monetary damages.<\/p>\n
A former Trump White House lawyer is\u00a0suing for compensation\u00a0over\u00a0alleged\u00a0privacy violations during a congressional inquiry into the 2020 election. And\u00a0House Democrats\u00a0announced\u00a0this week they\u2019re investigating approximately $4 million paid to a group of FBI employees who alleged they faced political retaliation during the Biden administration.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Democrats\u00a0and government watchdog groups have denounced the prospect of any settlement agreement between Trump, who is represented by private counsel, and the executive branch that he controls. Indeed, the\u00a0federal judge in Florida handling Trump\u2019s IRS lawsuit is weighing whether she has jurisdiction when the president\u00a0appears to control both sides of the dispute. Under the Constitution and longstanding legal precedents, courts can only hear cases in which the parties are actually at odds with each other. The judge\u00a0asked for written briefs addressing the\u00a0issue by May 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just another way for President Trump to treat\u00a0the American taxpayers\u2019 money as like a cash machine to serve his own personal interests,\u201d said\u00a0Virginia Canter, ethics chief counsel at the\u00a0Democracy Defenders Fund advocacy group and a former White House lawyer.<\/p>\n
Presidents often\u00a0walk back legal positions taken under prior administrations. But it\u2019s unprecedented for a sitting president to sue his own government\u00a0for compensation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tom Fitton, president of the conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch, said\u00a0he thought Trump should receive compensation, along with the Jan. 6 defendants and Republicans \u201ctargeted\u201d for their political affiliations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal government owes him big money for what he has suffered,\u201d Fitton\u00a0said.<\/p>\n
The IRS data leak at the center of the case was a significant blow to the agency. A former IRS contractor, Charles Littlejohn, pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing tax records for thousands of wealthy Americans, including Trump, Ken Griffin, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, and leaking them to news organizations. Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison.<\/p>\n
Separate from the IRS case, Trump reportedly has two pending administrative claims against the US government. One relates to the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible connections to Trump\u2019s campaign, while the other focuses on\u00a0the criminal investigation into his handling of classified information after leaving office in 2021, according to the New York Times.<\/p>\n
The US government\u2019s process for resolving claims out of court is largely confidential, and Trump\u2019s lawyers and the Justice Department haven\u2019t publicly discussed the status of his demands. In response to questions, Trump\u2019s legal team provided a statement that he \u201ccontinues to fight back against all Democrat-led Witch Hunts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the IRS did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
The US Constitution\u00a0bars presidents from receiving any \u201cemolument\u201d from the government while they\u2019re in office. The definition of \u201cemolument\u201d was the subject of litigation during Trump\u2019s first term and wasn\u2019t resolved by the time he left, but it generally is interpreted to mean a profit or financial benefit.\u00a0Canter said a direct payment to Trump would violate the emoluments clause.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Settlements and pending cases offer clues about the types of claims that might fall under the Trump administration\u2019s\u00a0\u201cweaponization\u201d criteria.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department faced blowback from administration critics for changing its stance in court to reach $1.25 million settlements with Michael Flynn \u2013 Trump\u2019s first national security adviser \u2013 and Carter Page, a campaign adviser.<\/p>\n
The administration last year agreed to pay nearly $5 million to resolve a case filed by the estate of Ashli Babbitt, a protester who was\u00a0shot and killed\u00a0by a police officer as she tried to force her way into the chambers of the House of Representatives during the Jan. 6 riot. The Justice Department had been opposing the lawsuit under the Biden administration.<\/p>\n
In October, the government\u00a0reached settlements\u00a0with\u00a0two IRS agents who alleged they faced retaliation for whistleblower activity related to the Biden administration\u2019s treatment of the former president\u2019s son, Hunter.\u00a0Empower Oversight, a\u00a0conservative group that represented the agents, said the settlements \u201cincluded significant compensation\u201d as well as more training for prosecutors.<\/p>\n
Mark McCloskey, a lawyer for hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants who filed claims alleging violations of their rights during arrests, detentions and prosecutions, said he hadn\u2019t received information about a potential compensation fund. He said he\u2019d \u201clike to see everybody get reasonable compensation\u201d ranging from small sums to millions of dollars.\u00a0More than 1,500 people were charged or convicted of crimes in connection with Jan. 6, ranging from low-level trespassing misdemeanors to assaulting police and seditious conspiracy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
#Trumps #IRS #suit #billion #compensation #fund<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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