President Donald Trump, his two eldest sons, and the Trump Organization dropped their $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service on Monday in exchange for the Department of Justice creating a $1.776 billion fund to settle claims by people who allege they are victims of so-called lawfare.
A Miami federal court filing by Trump’s lawyers dropping the lawsuit suggested it effectively barred a judge from analyzing whether the president’s civil suit was legally valid and from dismissing it if she finds it is invalid.
The move came days after ABC News reported the DOJ was negotiating the settlement, which was blasted by Democratic members of Congress who called the then-expected deal a “slush fund” for allies of Trump who had been prosecuted under the Biden administration.
In addition to dropping the lawsuit against the IRS, which related to a leak of Trump’s tax returns, the plaintiffs also agreed that, in exchange for the creation of this fund, Trump will withdraw two administrative claims, “including for damages resulting from the unlawful raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Russia-collusion hoax,” the DOJ said in a statement.
“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,” said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a statement.
″“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 said.
The DOJ said the fund will have “the power to issue formal apologies and monetary relief owed to claimants.”
The new “Anti-Weaponization Fund” will get its money from the DOJ’s judgment fund, which is a perpetual appropriation that allows the department to settle and pay cases.
The DOJ said that the new fund will stop processing claims no later than December 15, 2028.
A spokesman for Trump’s legal team, in a statement, said, “President Trump, his family, supporters, and countless other America First Patriots were illegally targeted by the Democrat-lead law enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice, and the IRS.”
“The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated actor to unlawfully leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to left-wing news outlets such the New York Times and ProPublica, which was then illegally released to millions of people,” the spokesman said. “Similarly, President Trump was also the victim of illegal harassment and invasions of privacy as part of the politically motivated and completely discredited Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, and the wrongful, election interfering raid of his home at Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.”
“President Trump is entering into this settlement squarely for the benefit of the American people, and he will continue his fight to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable,” the spokesman said.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in a post on X on Monday shortly before the settlement was announced by the DOJ, said, “Trump is one step closer to creating a giant slush fund of taxpayer dollars for his MAGA buddies.”
“This is corruption on steroids,” Warren wrote.
Monday’s court filing noted that Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and The Trump Organization were voluntarily dismissing the lawsuit against the IRS “with prejudice.”
“With prejudice” means the plaintiffs can not renew the same claims in another civil complaint.
The notice of dismissal came two days before a deadline set by U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Williams for the DOJ and Trump’s attorneys to answer whether a “case and controversy exists in this matter so as to establish the Court’s jurisdiction.”
Williams’ question suggested that because Trump is suing “entities whose decisions are subject to his direction,” there might not be enough actual adversity between the parties to satisfy a constitutional requirement that federal courts only adjudicate cases or controversies.
The filing on Monday said Trump’s dismissal means “no judicial analysis is appropriate, and any “subsequent order purporting to dismiss ‘all claims’ . . . [would be] a nullity.”
Trump sued the IRS in late January over the leak of his tax information by an IRS employee Charles “Chaz” Littlejohn in 2019 and 2020.
The IRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in a statement, said, “Regardless of whether Trump filed this lawsuit with a personal payday or a slush fund in mind, he deserves no credit for dropping it, and even by his standards the move he’s trying to get away with now is a stunning act of corruption.”
“What Trump wants is a $1.7 billion slush fund for right-wing political violence and subversion, and if he follows through, it will be the most brazen theft and abuse of taxpayer dollars by any president in American history,” Wyden said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/18/trump-dismiss-irs-lawsuit.htmlSo trump appoints people to run the DOJ who in turn agrees to write a check for $1.776 billion dollars to give out checks to criminals and #triggered #snowflakes
Your tax dollars at work. We will stop wasteful spending they said.
Murica! Freedumb!
