Overview
- Major outlets, which reported Friday that Trump would exchange his lawsuit for a $1.7 billion, taxpayer-funded commission for claimed victims of government “weaponization,” also said the terms are not final and no agency has confirmed the deal.
- Sources say the panel would draw on the Treasury’s Judgment Fund, keep its process and recipient identities confidential, let Trump remove commissioners without cause, and hear claims from Jan. 6 defendants and Trump-linked entities, though not Trump himself for the resolved claims.
- U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams has questioned whether Trump and the IRS are truly opposing parties, with briefs due May 20 and a May 27 hearing, as a court‑appointed lawyer urges inquiries into DOJ’s atypical handling and whether talks were at arm’s length.
- Democrats and ethics groups denounced the reported plan as an unconstitutional slush fund, citing the Domestic Emoluments Clause, Congress’s power of the purse, and the 14th Amendment’s bar on aiding insurrection if Jan. 6 defendants are paid.
- ABC and others report the talks could also fold in about $230 million in Trump’s other claims against DOJ and include an IRS apology, while the underlying suit stems from an IRS contractor’s 2019 leak; any fund could face fresh lawsuits or moves by lawmakers to block or unwind it.