Justice Department creates $1.8bn fund for wrongly investigated Americans

A Trump-backed $1.776 billion compensation fund is now drawing fire from Republicans who say it risks turning federal money into a partisan payout machine. The Justice Department created the Anti-Weaponization Fund on May 18 as part of a settlement that resolved President Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and the Trump Organization’s $10 billion lawsuit over the leak of Trump’s tax returns.

The lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court in January 2026, stemmed from the 2019 release of Trump’s tax records and alleged mishandling by the government. Under the settlement, the Trump family and business received a formal apology, but no direct monetary damages. The Justice Department said the new fund would provide a “systematic process” to hear and redress claims from people who say they suffered “weaponization and lawfare.”

That language has become the fault line. Democrats and government watchdogs have called the arrangement corrupt or unconstitutional, but the backlash has widened inside the Republican Party as well. Critics say the fund could function as an open-ended grievance mechanism, with no obvious limiting principle beyond political claims of mistreatment by federal agencies. The central issue is not just who was investigated, but what standard would separate a legitimate claim from a political complaint dressed up as harm.

Sen. Thom Tillis, one of the Republicans most sharply opposed to the plan, called it “stupid on stilts” and said it was “beyond the pale.” His criticism underscored how fast the issue moved from a Trump-versus-Democrats dispute to a broader party fight in Washington, where some Republicans see the fund as an ideological trap and others see it as an overdue response to what they view as government abuse.

Michael Caputo, a Trump ally and former Trump administration health official, is among those said to be preparing to seek compensation after saying the FBI investigated him. That prospect has sharpened concerns that the fund could extend beyond the original tax-return fight and into a wider class of Republican grievances about federal law enforcement.

The settlement has exposed competing definitions of “weaponization” inside the GOP. For Trump loyalists, it can mean aggressive scrutiny of conservatives by federal investigators. For critics inside the party, that standard is too elastic to govern a public compensation fund. The controversy reportedly helped derail a government funding deal in the Senate, a sign that the battle over grievance politics is now carrying a budget price tag.