Judge Orders DOJ to Name $1.8B Fund Architects
Judge Orders DOJ to Name $1.8B Fund Architects
The News
A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to identify the people who designed the nearly $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund, a taxpayer-funded payout plan the Justice Department says it has abandoned.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis of the Eastern District of Virginia granted part of a motion to compel discovery from the government, requiring the DOJ to hand over the names of the fund's architects.
"Who came up with it? That's what conception means," Davis said at a hearing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, according to the Washington Post.
What the Fund Was
Announced by the DOJ in May as part of an agreement settling President Donald Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax records, the fund would have directed roughly $1.8 billion from the Treasury Department's Judgment Fund to people who claimed they "suffered weaponization and lawfare" — a provision that could have extended to Jan. 6 rioters convicted of violent crimes and later pardoned by Trump. The same agreement made the president and several family members immune from IRS audits.
Timeline
Rioters storm the U.S. Capitol. Hundreds are later prosecuted; Trump pardons them after returning to office.
The Justice Department announces the roughly $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund as part of the settlement of Trump's $10 billion suit against the IRS. It draws bipartisan backlash on Capitol Hill, particularly over the prospect of payouts to Jan. 6 defendants, and endangers Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general.
A federal judge temporarily blocks the fund after a lawsuit filed by a fired Jan. 6 prosecutor and a law professor whom the Trump administration had sued.
Blanche puts in writing that the fund "is rescinded" and that "there is no fund." But the document he signed does not include the signatories to the original agreement, leaving a loophole under which the fund and the IRS audit immunity could be revived.
At a Cabinet meeting, Trump says the fund "is dead, but you know, I wish it weren't," and repeats that he thinks "people were horribly treated." He has not ruled out payouts to Jan. 6 rioters.
Treniss Evans III, a Jan. 6 defendant seeking a $1 million payout from the government, posts a photo of himself in Blanche's office. A person familiar with the matter told NBC News that Evans did not meet with the attorney general. Evans was sentenced to 20 days in prison and three years of probation for his role in storming the Capitol.
Davis orders the government to disclose who devised the fund's structure.
Reactions
"Today's order granting discovery is a significant step in getting to the bottom of the slush fund," said Aman George, senior counsel at Democracy Forward, the nonprofit representing the plaintiffs. "We will continue to meet the government in court until our investigation is complete and the slush fund is permanently halted."
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to NBC News's request for comment Friday evening. Raw Story reported that the department fought the disclosure, and that the judge rejected the arguments officials made to keep the names hidden.
The ruling is narrower than what the plaintiffs wanted. They had sought to identify everyone involved in conceiving, creating and carrying out the fund; Davis said a request that sweeping started to look like a "fishing expedition," but found that the identities of the fund's designers were relevant to the case.
What's Next
The government must now turn over the names — but not necessarily to the public. Davis directed the parties to treat the discovery materials as protected from public disclosure while the litigation continues.
The Virginia case remains in discovery, letting the challengers seek further documents and information about how the program was developed. Several lawsuits over the fund and the underlying Trump-IRS agreement are still pending.
More
The plaintiffs include former federal prosecutor Andrew Floyd, who worked on Jan. 6 cases before being fired by the Trump administration, and a law professor sued by the administration. Career IRS workers later joined the suit against the Trump-IRS agreement, which shielded the president and several family members from audits.
Blanche has said publicly there "will be no fund." Because the rescission document lacks the original signatories, critics say nothing legally prevents a future revival.
Poll
Should the names of the officials who designed the $1.8 billion fund be made public?
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