On Tuesday, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche confirmed that the Justice Department will not implement President Donald Trump's politically and legally contentious "Anti-Weaponization Fund," which would have allocated $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to compensate purported victims of "an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration" (as Trump put it). But Blanche said another element of Trump's "settlement agreement" with the IRS—a provision that shields him and his family from liability for tax violations and other federal offenses—remains in place.
The Anti-Weaponization Fund, which was described in a May 18 agreement signed by Trump's personal lawyers, Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr., and IRS CEO Frank Bisignano, was controversial because it was brazenly corrupt: It was the product of a pretextual lawsuit that pitted Trump against agencies he oversees, and it was designed to benefit his allies. But the liability shield, which was revealed in a May 19 addendum signed by Blanche alone, is even shadier, since it directly benefits the president himself.
