Several GOP lawmakers have criticized the fund.
President Donald Trump on Friday defended the “anti-weaponization” fund that was recently set up by the Department of Justice (DOJ) as some Republican lawmakers criticized the move.
“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal break in of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune.”
“Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused” by the previous presidential administration, the president added.
The $1.776 billion compensation fund, announced by the DOJ on Monday, was created via a settlement that was reached between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) after he sued the agency.
Over the past weekend, Trump agreed to dismiss the suit against the IRS that said the agency leaked his tax returns to media outlets, along with withdrawing two claims related to the FBI search of his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in August 2022, as well as an investigation into whether his 2016 campaign worked with the Russian government.
Some Republican lawmakers, however, criticized the fund this week, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) questioning the settlement between Trump and the federal government.
“I think it’s unprecedented for someone to be on the both sides of a legal decision, where you make a plea bargain with yourself, essentially,” Paul told The Hill.
“He’s lost some support in the Senate,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who predicted that Senate Republicans would have to impose curbs on Trump’s fund. “He’s the plaintiff and the boss of the defendants. So just on the surface, it smells,” he added.
Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) told reporters after a meeting between senators and Attorney General Todd Blanche this week that “I think there are people who are concerned about public relations” about the fund.
The Justice Department said there are no partisan requirements to file a claim with the new fund. “It is this Department’s intention to make right the wrongs that were previously done while ensuring this never happens again,” said Blanche in a statement.
Trump, at a White House event on Monday evening, said he was not involved in the creation of the fund and added that victims who are eligible “were people that were weaponized and really treated brutally by a system that was so corrupt.”
