House Democrats are opening an inquiry into the "massive slush fund" established by the Department of Justice to pay off President Donald Trump's allies.
The DOJ announced the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund" as part of a settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, and House Democrats notified Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano that they were seeking documents and other evidence related to the fund.
"The American people and the world just witnessed one of the most brazen acts of public corruption and self-dealing in American history," stated a letter signed by Reps. Richard Neal (D-MA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD).
The lawmakers, who are respectively the ranking members of the House Ways and Means and Judicial committees, blasted Trump's "collusive lawsuit" as a "sham" and "obvious plunder" of taxpayer money, and they accused the cabinet secretaries of essentially extending a "Super-Pardon" to the president and his family by shielding them from accountability for tax code violations, insider trading, sexual harassment and other wrongdoing.
"This settlement is a transparent attempt to circumvent the separation of powers and use the Judgment Fund for a scam Congress never contemplated: rewarding the President’s political allies at the expense of American taxpayers," Neal and Raskin wrote. "As Members of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means and the Committee on the Judiciary, we request that any and all relevant documents and communications be preserved in connection with the above-referenced settlement."
Former Trump adviser Michael Caputo filed the first claim on the fund Tuesday seeking $2.7 million related to his targeting by the FBI during the Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence investigation into links between the president's 2016 campaign and Russia.
Blanche and Vice President JD Vance each refused to rule out the possibility that pardoned Jan. 6 rioters would be able to claim some of the fund's money.