ORL Statement on Donald J. Trump’s Corruption and Fraudulent Slush Fund

The issue. The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) May 18, 2026, announcement by the acting Attorney General of a new “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is a blatant, attempted theft of U.S. taxpayer funds as a result of unprecedented Presidential corruption and gross conflict of interest. This self-serving slush fund was and is not authorized by Congress.

On January 29, 2026, the President, his two oldest sons, and the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for $10 billion as compensation for the illegal disclosure of confidential tax records by an IRS contractor during Trump’s first term. There was no court trial or judicial settlement. Before the court could hold a hearing or rule on Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit and after a group of judicially appointed legal experts were prepared to recommend its dismissal as a baseless case, this “settlement agreement” was announced.  This slush fund is a purely political and unethical action to appease the President, who was both plaintiff and defendant in his sham DOJ lawsuit against the IRS.

In reality, this “settlement agreement” is not a settlement in any legal sense. It has not been ordered or approved by any court. The “parties” dismissed the case voluntarily. It is simply a self-dealing policy agreement among President Trump’s DOJ, the Treasury Department’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the President’s private counsel arising from his recent lawsuit Trump v. Internal Revenue Service. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida ruled that there was no judicial settlement of this case before dismissing it with prejudice. Within hours of this fund’s announcement, the Treasury Department general counsel resigned after only eight months in office. Not every Republican appointee will tolerate this degree of corruption.

This standardless $1.776 billion fund will easily transform into resources available to reward President Trump’s political allies and supporters who have alleged that they are victims of DOJ “lawfare” and “weaponization” during the previous administration.

Potential claimants include convicted January 6^th insurrectionists loyal to the President who previously either pled guilty to crimes or were found guilty of crimes by juries of their peers and then subsequently either pardoned or had their sentences commuted under President Trump’s executive order on January 20, 2025. This unlawful fund is part of their promised reward by DOJ officials and a prime example of waste, fraud, and abuse by the Trump administration cited by the President’s own March 16^th executive order naming Vice President Vance chair of a new Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.

In addition, the acting Attorney General’s May 19, 2026, addendum exempts the President, his family, and related businesses from any and all IRS actions related to current or past tax returns. This “settlement” is the functional equivalent of a “free pass” to avoid and escape any pending or future IRS investigations or audits when there is significant evidence of wrongdoing in the filing of those returns.

Donald Trump is the only presidential candidate to refuse to release his tax returns. One must ask: what is he hiding, and what is he intending to hide from American taxpayers with this order?

There is no precedent for such Presidential corruption and no rational justification for the DOJ and IRS actions. The Attorney General has a fiduciary responsibility to the American people to protect taxpayers’ funds and uphold the law, not protect the President, his family, and businesses when unwarranted and illegal.

While the Acting Attorney General has stated at a Congressional hearing that he is “not moving forward with the fund,” the President has left the door open and believes the fund to be a “beautiful thing.”  If the fund went into effect, the President would be asking an unaccountable panel of five political appointees removable by the President with no oversight or authorization by Congress to award taxpayers’ funds – our money – to whomever the panel chooses. This will almost certainly include convicted but pardoned criminals who attacked police officers defending the Capitol, resulting in several deaths.

Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called these outrageous actions by President Trump, his private counsel, and his political appointees “utterly stupid, morally wrong.” More than thirty former federal judges have filed a motion for the court to reopen the case, alleging that the so-called “settlement” amounted to collusion and fraud on the U.S. Government.

ORL policy position. We are a nation of laws under our Constitution. One of the ORL’s founding principles is support for that Constitution and the rule of law, not the rule of those who would conspire and collude to steal from taxpayers to offer financial rewards and issue official apologies to the President’s allies and supporters. Law enforcement actions by the previous Administration against January 6th participants were not “DOJ weaponization” but the result of legitimate legal processes for investigating and prosecuting crimes against police officers.

Therefore, consistent with ORL’s founding principle supporting the Constitution and the rule of law, ORL condemns and opposes the Trump administration’s unjustified “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as a prime example of a violation of those principles, government corruption – waste, fraud, and abuse – and a material conflict of interest.

We also condemn and oppose the Department of Justice’s unilateral decision to permanently exempt the President, his family, and businesses from all current and any future IRS audits or other actions related to their current or past income tax filings.

Both the Administration’s collusion to create the slush fund and the IRS exemption for the President, his family, and businesses are an unprecedented affront to public trust in the U.S. Government.

ORL recommended action. Our Republican Legacy urges Congress to immediately pass pending bipartisan legislationto prohibit any federal funding for the President’s proposed “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

In addition, we also urge Congress to pass legislation to make null and void the DOJ’s announced policy approving self-serving IRS tax treatment for President Trump, his family, and businesses.