The Trump administration abandoned a $1.776 billion "anti-weaponization" fund created through a Department of Justice, or DOJ, settlement with the Internal Revenue Services, or IRS, over the President's leaked tax returns.
The fund was designed to compensate individuals who claimed improper prosecution, with multiple of President Donald Trump's allies indicating they would seek payments.
In his latest Substack essay, former federal prosecutor Harry Litman characterized the retreat as Trump's "biggest self-inflicted wound of Trump 2.0," noting the President was "pinned between a rock and a hard place."
The fund became "politically radioactive" after reporters questioned Republicans about potentially paying individuals convicted of assaulting police officers during the January 6 insurrection.
Litman warned Trump could face "serious lumps" from the MAGA base approaching the midterms. He added, the retreat represents a public defeat for a president whose political brand centers on bravado and winning, though the full parameters of the reversal remain unclear as of the report.
"All of that amounts to a richly deserved comeuppance for Trump’s staggering audacity in trying to make the American people not just pardon but financially reward the most serious assault on American democracy since the Civil War," Litman wrote.
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