Thursday, May 21, 2026
PMT: Understanding the $1,800,000,000 "fund" DOJ has created
When the DOJ very clearly lost its independence from the White House at the start of Trump's second term, people speculated what might happen, mostly envisioning politicized prosecutions (which happened). But I don't think anyone thought the President would sue the government and then "settle" that suit in a deal that gives him and his family immunity from IRS investigation or claims and creates a $1.8 billion fund for those such as the January 6 insurrectionists and election interferers who faced prosecution under the Biden administration.
Here is how it all played out:
-- In September of 2020, a former government contractor named Charles Littlejohn leaked some of Donald Trump's old tax returns, that then were published in the New York Times. They revealed (among other things) that he paid no tax at all in 10 of the 15 years prior to 2016. Trump, as President, had often promised that he would release his tax returns at some unnamed point in the future, but never did so.
-- Littlejohn is currently serving a 5-year sentence for leaking the documents.
-- In January of 2026, Trump, his two oldest sons and the Trump Organization filed suit against the IRS for the leak of the tax returns, seeking $10 billion. Critics argued that the suit was time barred, against the wrong defendant (it was Littlejohn who leaked the docs) and did not present an actual adversarial case since the plaintiffs (Trump) was the head of the defendant (the federal government). The judge seemed especially interested in this last point.
-- This week, Trump withdrew the suit and announced a settlement with the DOJ (who act as lawyers for the IRS). That settlement basically gives Trump and his family immunity from tax actions and sets up the $1.8 billion fund-- it bars audits "forever." Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche (who very much wants the plaintiff, Trump, to make him the AG), defended the deal to irate members of Congress on Tuesday.
Interestingly, all of this is a product of Trump's unique viewpoint and the actual creation of a "Unitary Executive" where the executive branch of government acts effectively as the alter-ego of the president.
Will Congress act?
Well, no. They won't. And that is its own conundrum...
