A newly established $1.8 billion fund, drawn from taxpayer money and intended for allies of former President Donald Trump who claim government targeting, faces legal challenges as critics filed lawsuits Friday to block payouts. The fund, announced five days ago, originated from an extraordinary settlement between the Trump administration and Trump, one of his adult sons, and the Trump Organization, following a lawsuit they initiated in January over the unauthorized disclosure of Trump’s tax information.
The fund is to be administered by five commissioners selected by the attorney general, tasked with reviewing claims from individuals alleging unfair targeting by previous administrations. The money is being drawn from the Justice Department’s Judgment Fund, which is taxpayer money Congress has set aside for government monetary settlements.
The lawsuits, including one filed by a coalition of critics, argue the fund is unconstitutional and violates federal laws. Plaintiffs asked a judge in Alexandria, Virginia, to block the Trump administration from distributing any money, asserting that the decision to draw from the Judgment Fund is unlawful because the underlying legal case was “meritless,” given the president's unique role as both a plaintiff and the head of the executive branch agencies named as defendants.
The State's Hand in Protecting Power
Among the plaintiffs are former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Floyd, who prosecuted Capitol riot cases before being fired last year by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, and California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, who was acquitted of an assault charge after being accused of throwing a tear gas canister at federal agents during a 2025 protest against an immigration raid at a Camarillo, California, cannabis farm.
Further plaintiffs include the government watchdog Common Cause, the city of New Haven, Connecticut, and the National Abortion Federation. New Haven stated that Trump administration officials have targeted it and other municipalities perceived as sanctuary cities. The National Abortion Federation expressed fears that the fund could issue payments to individuals who have attacked abortion clinics, thereby providing an incentive for further violence against its members.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are named as defendants in the suit, alongside the Justice and Treasury departments. During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche would not rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on January 6, in its fifth year, could be eligible for fund payouts.
Rewarding Insurrection, Suppressing Dissent
The creation of this fund follows a pattern of state action under the Trump administration to protect and reward its loyalists. The Capitol riot investigation, once the largest in Justice Department history, was ended by Trump with mass pardons. These actions erased hundreds of January 6 convictions, commuted prison sentences, and ordered the dismissal of every pending January 6 criminal case.
Beneficiaries of Trump’s clemency included supporters who assaulted officers at the Capitol and members of far-right extremist groups imprisoned for plotting to attack the Capitol to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 presidential election, now in its sixth year. After Trump returned to the White House last year, he appointed conservative activist Ed Martin, a leading advocate for January 6 defendants, as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, who subsequently fired or demoted some prosecutors who had worked on Capitol riot cases.
Two police officers who helped defend the U.S. Capitol from the January 6 mob also sued this week to prevent anyone, including Capitol rioters, from receiving payments from the settlement fund. This legal challenge, like others, operates within the existing legal framework, while the fund itself represents a direct privatization of collective resources to serve specific political and class interests.
The new fund has drawn criticism from Democrats and some members of Trump’s own party, with Senate Republicans expressing that they were blindsided and at odds over how to rein it in. During a private meeting on Thursday, several senators warned acting Attorney General Todd Blanche that the party’s major immigration enforcement bill could be derailed with the issue of the fund hanging over them, with hardly any members speaking up to defend it. Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward and an attorney for one of the lawsuits, characterized the fund as “profoundly unlawful” and a “dangerous abuse of government power,” reflecting a liberal critique that focuses on legality rather than the structural function of the state in protecting accumulated power.