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Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had never appeared before a congressional panel asking for money to run his department until Tuesday morning.
And even though cabinet secretaries routinely make their budget requests to Congress, it appears that Blanche apparently didn’t even need to ask lawmakers for the most-controversial batch of federal funds in years.
It was already approved. Somehow.
Blanche’s Justice Department announced the creation of a billion compensation fund to pay people who Republicans say are victims of government weaponization. Who gets the money isn’t clear. And what’s murkier still is how the stash of cash came about.
APOLOGIES AND CASH HEADED TO ALLEGED ‘WEAPONIZATION’ VICTIMS IN BILLION-DOLLAR TRUMP SETTLEMENT
President Donald Trump speaks during a Fighting For American Workers event in Suffern, N.Y., on May 22, 2026. (Ryan Murphy/AP)
In short, President Donald Trump sued his own IRS for leaking his tax returns – along with the filings of several hundred other Americans. Then, Blanche’s own Department of Justice announced that the president essentially settled with himself.
“Per the settlement, plaintiffs will receive a formal apology but no monetary payment or damages of any kind. They have agreed, in exchange for the creation of this fund, to drop their pending lawsuit with prejudice, and also withdraw two administrative claims, including for damages resulting from the unlawful raid of Mar-a-Lago and the Russia-collusion hoax,” read the DoJ statement.
The fund is worth $1.776 billion. Get it? 1776.
REPUBLICANS RECOIL AS TRUMP’S BILLION-DOLLAR DOJ ‘SLUSH FUND’ FOR ALLIES THREATENS ICE, BORDER PATROL PLAN
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke during a news conference at the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C., on April 7, 2026. He discussed the department’s anti-fraud efforts and announced the creation of a National Fraud Enforcement…
