The United States Department of Justice has introduced an “anti-weaponisation fund” that will be used to financially compensate people who claim they have been unfairly targeted by the federal government.
The fund, announced on Monday, is part of a settlement arising from a lawsuit that President Donald Trump filed against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this year, blaming it for a leak of his tax information.
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How did the ‘anti-weaponisation fund’ come about?
Between 2018 and 2020, Trump’s tax information was leaked to The New York Times. In 2023, Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former contractor at the IRS, was accused of providing those tax returns, according to a statement from the US Justice Department. The Times, citing the returns, reported in 2020 that Trump, a billionaire, had paid little or no federal income taxes over 15 years.
The IRS is the US government’s revenue service responsible for collecting federal taxes and enforcing tax laws.
Littlejohn pleaded guilty to disclosing the returns and in 2024 was sentenced to five years in prison.
In January, Trump sued the IRS and Department of the Treasury, which are part of his own government, for $10bn, accusing the agencies of failing to prevent the leak of his tax information.
On Tuesday, the office of the attorney general in Washington DC, announced the establishment of the “anti-weaponisation fund” as part of a settlement agreement between the two sides.
