More than 2 billion dollars will be allocated by the United States to a “compensation fund” aimed at supporters of Donald Trump who were pursued during Joe Biden’s presidency.
“The Minister of Justice has created the ‘anti-instrumentalization fund’ in order to establish a systematic process to hear and repair the grievances of individuals who have been victims of political instrumentalization of justice,” said the ministry in a statement on Monday.
Manipulation and circumvention
Donald Trump accepted to “withdraw” his complaint in the case against the IRS in exchange for the creation of this fund, the administration specified. In this case, which also involved his two sons Eric and Donald Jr, the Republican billionaire was claiming ten billion dollars in damages and interest after the leak of tax returns during his first term.
According to the agreement, the Trump family members “will receive formal apologies but no financial compensation or any kind of compensation,” the ministry stated.
This compensation fund will be endowed with 1.776 billion dollars in federal funds and “will stop processing claims no later than December 15, 2028,” the last year of Donald Trump’s term, detailed the statement. Its five members will be “appointed by the Minister of Justice” and the US president will have the power to “revoke any member,” it added.
Who controls the American justice system?
“The State apparatus should never be instrumentalized against an American, and this ministry intends to redress the wrongs caused in the past, while ensuring that it does not happen again,” said interim Minister of Justice Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer of Donald Trump.
This compensation fund could be requested by individuals who believe they were unjustly pursued by the Biden administration. For example, the hundreds of Donald Trump supporters prosecuted for their involvement in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Donald Trump had decided to pardon over a thousand of them upon his return to the White House in January 2025.
Even before its official creation, this fund drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers, with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calling it “pure and simple corruption,” and Senator Chris Van Hollen describing it as a “slush fund, financed by your taxes,” which Donald Trump could use to “compensate his political allies.”
