A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to identify the people who came up with the structure for the nearly $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” that Attorney General Todd Blanche has said is now “dead.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis of the Eastern District of Virginia issued an order that granted part of a motion from plaintiffs to compel discovery from the federal government, a person who was in the courtroom when the order was issued confirmed to NBC News. The order includes disclosing the names of the fund’s architects, the person said.
The New York Times reported on the details of the judge’s order.
“Today’s order granting discovery is a significant step in getting to the bottom of the slush fund,” Aman George, senior counsel at Democracy Forward, a nonprofit organization representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement. “We will continue to meet the government in court until our investigation is complete and the slush fund is permanently halted.”
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening.
The fund — established as part of a settlement agreement between President Donald Trump, two of his sons and his company, and the Internal Revenue Service — aimed to set aside roughly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money as payouts for those who “suffered weaponization and lawfare” — a provision that could extend to Jan. 6 rioters convicted, and later pardoned by Trump, for violent crimes.
It was temporarily blocked in May by a federal judge following a lawsuit filed by a fired Jan. 6 prosecutor and a law professor who had been sued by the Trump administration. Career IRS workers also joined the lawsuit against the Trump-IRS agreement, which made the president and several family members immune from IRS audits.
The “anti-weaponization” fund drew bipartisan criticism in Washington, putting Blanche’s nomination as attorney general in jeopardy. He later put in writing that the fund “is rescinded” and that “there is no fund.” But in a major legal loophole, the document signed by Blanche did not include the signatories of the initial agreement, meaning the fund and related IRS immunity could be revived at a later date.
That loophole has lingered as Trump has refused to denounce the fund. At a Cabinet meeting this summer, Trump, who has not ruled out giving payouts to Jan. 6 rioters, said that the fund “is dead, but you know, I wish it weren’t,” and reiterated that he thinks “people were horribly treated.”
This week, Treniss Evans III, a Jan. 6 defendant who is seeking a $1 million payout from the government, posted a photo of himself in Blanche’s office, though a person familiar with the matter said that Evans did not meet with the attorney general. Evans was previously sentenced to 20 days in prison and three years probation due to his participation in storming the Capitol.
