05/28/2026
I spent some time this week doing a deep dive on the DOJ's new $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" - and I want to share what I found, because I think the coverage has been more political than legal.
Here's the honest take:
The grievance underneath this is real. Governments do use prosecutorial power for political purposes. The IRS leak was real and someone went to prison for it.
But the fund itself has serious problems that have nothing to do with which side you're on politically.
- $1.776 billion in taxpayer money with no congressional approval
- A commission appointed entirely by the AG - who serves at the president's pleasure
- No defined rules for who qualifies or how much they can receive
- No independent oversight, no judicial review
- The president was simultaneously the plaintiff AND controlled the defendant agency
- A side deal that bars the IRS from auditing the Trump family for past tax years
- January 6th rioters who beat police officers are explicitly eligible to apply
If Obama had done this exact thing for his allies, the people defending it now would have called for impeachment. That's not a partisan point - it's a structural one.
I wrote a full legal analysis with actual case citations if you want to go deeper than the headlines:
Inside the $1.776 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund: Understanding the DOJ’s settlement with President Trump, the defensible grievances of IRS leaks, & the serious legal flaws ahead.
