No, The DOJ’s Fund For Victims Of Government Weaponization And Lawfare Isn’t A ‘Slush Fund’

Interesting anti weaponization fund, doj, donald trump, joe biden, lawfare, todd blanche admin May 23, 2026 0 Comments

No, The DOJ’s Fund For Victims Of Government Weaponization And Lawfare Isn’t A ‘Slush Fund’

Much ink has been spilled — much of it incorrect or outright conspiratorial — over the last week regarding President Donald Trump’s establishment of a nearly $1.8 billion fund for the victims of government weaponization and lawfare through the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Critics of the president, anti-Trump agitators, and Democrat opponents in Congress have attempted to portray the DOJ fund as a slush fund that will be used to fuel corruption and offer payouts to the president’s allies. However, there is scant evidence that this will or even could happen, and, in fact, the fund is borne from a long history of such financial institutions created by government agencies to make right government wrongs.

This past Monday, the DOJ officially announced it was establishing a fund “to provide a systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.” The fund was created in conjunction with President Trump’s decision to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). However, it is important to stress that Trump’s motion to dismiss his IRS lawsuit with prejudice — meaning he cannot opt to bring the charges again at a later date — does not mention nor is it actually contingent on the DOJ establishing the weaponization fund. (RELATED: Republican Defies Trump, Joins Democrat To Kill Weaponization Victim Fund)

Again, it is important to stress that the DOJ fund is not tied to the IRS lawsuit in any meaningful way — something that has been a point of confusion for many, even in the media.

The money in the DOJ fund does not come from the IRS, but rather through a congressional appropriation. And this is in no way unique or below board — in fact, the former Biden administration did something similar not more than three years ago.

In July 2023, then-President Joe Biden’s Department of Agriculture (USDA) began accepting claims for payouts from the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP). This fund was established under Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act, and according to the USDA, “Congress allocated $2.2 billion for the program and directed USDA to provide financial assistance to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021.”

Further, a number of white farmers allege that a separate USDA program — established under the American Rescue Plan Act — which created a loan forgiveness program for minorities, was in fact discriminatory. This case provides another example of the former Biden administration creating a fund that is favorable to what is arguably a key Democrat constituency, and one that is arguably far more discriminatory than what detractors claim the Trump DOJ is doing.

“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,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a Monday press release. “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’s words were obviously carefully chosen. Unlike what Biden did at the USDA, the DOJ’s new fund is meant for any American — regardless of race, color, religion, or creed — to be able to seek a redress of grievances for unfair targeting by government entities. The fund will be overseen by five appointed individuals, and seeing as how it will be reliant on appropriated monies, it presumably would be answerable to Congress as well. (RELATED: Jan. 6 Officers Sue Trump Admin Over Government Lawfare Victims Fund)

While Democrats continue to shove their heads deep in the sand regarding government weaponization, the exposure of abuses by former Biden DOJ special counsel Jack Smith — including the questionable seizure of toll records for Members of Congress — has brought the problem into the public eye. However, the actions of Jack Smith, which go far beyond just spying on Republican lawmakers, are just the tip of the weaponization and lawfare iceberg.

The Biden DOJ is accused of pursuing, behind the scenes, the political persecution and disbarment of former Trump administration attorneys like Jeff Clark. In addition, the Biden DOJ used 18 U.S.C. § 1512, a financial crimes statute created in the wake of the Enron scandal, to pursue enhanced sentences against those who entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. This tactic was later thrown out by the U.S. Supreme Court in , with the Jan. 6 defendants receiving the enhanced sentences, some upwards of over two decades in prison, being ordered resentenced.

Other targets of government weaponization and lawfare have been pro-life demonstrators and organizations who were aggressively pursued by the Biden DOJ under the FACE Act. Many of those cases have now either been dismissed or seen significant reductions or even the tossing out of sentences altogether.

In the case of the weaponization of government, the facts are clear, lawfare happened, there are possibly hundreds of victims, and these people have a right to be made — at least in part — whole. The critics of the DOJ’s “Anti-Weaponization Fund” can only talk about how they presume it could be abused, but offer no real evidence. Those who recognize its necessity can point to the lives destroyed by the federal government as a necessity for the fund’s purpose.