The internet erupted on Thursday after a new report revealed President Donald Trump's plan to create a billion-dollar fund to pay his allies.
ABC News reported that Trump is considering dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service over the release of his tax returns during his first administration, in exchange for creating a $1.7 billion fund to pay his allies who claim they were wrongfully prosecuted by the Biden administration. The report indicates that Trump himself won't qualify for payments under the initiative, but entities tied to the president can be paid.
Rioters who participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection, as well as groups such as the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, could also qualify for the payments, according to the report.
Political analysts and observers reacted to the report on social media.
"They’re openly pilfering the United States Treasury," Scott Weiner, a Democratic state senator in California, posted on X. "They don’t even bother to hide it. Because they think there won’t be accountability. Except there will be."
"Considering how difficult it is for people with legitimate claims that they were grievously wronged by the government over many years and different administrations to get compensation let alone accountability, this is truly breathtaking if true," Lawrence Hurley, senior Supreme Court reporter for NBC News, posted on X.
"Trump is poised to effectively steal $1.7 BILLION in taxpayer funds to pay off January 6ers and other political allies, without any oversight by Congress and despite the fact that the people who’ll be handed cash straight from our paychecks don’t have viable legal claims," lawyer Aaron Reichlin-Melnick posted on X.