DOJ targets sue Trump over anti-weaponization 'slush fund' 

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CN) — A collection of individuals and organizations targeted by Donald Trump’s Justice Department filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to dissolve the newly created “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

Among the plaintiffs are former Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Floyd — who led a task force that prosecuted individuals involved in the January 6, 2021, insurrection — and California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, whom a jury acquitted of felony assault of a federal officer stemming from his participation in protest of a immigration raid.

Also suing are the nonprofit organizations National Abortion Federation and Common Cause, along with the city of New Haven, Connecticut, which has the administration has targeted for its relaxed immigration policies.

“First, hundreds of people attacked the foundation of an ordered society by trying to stop the results of a free and fair election — committing serious assaults on law enforcement and other crimes as they did so. Then, this administration pardoned them — removing the accountability that had been hard earned by victims, witnesses, law enforcement, and prosecutors and imposed by impartial jurors and judges,” Floyd said in a statement. “Now they are asking taxpayers to illegally reward them for their crimes.”

The plaintiffs say the fund — created as a result of a settlement between Trump and the IRS in a case concerning the leaking of his tax records — unconstitutionally exceeds executive authority, bypasses Congress’s exclusive authority over federal spending and appropriations and violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

The Department of Justice announced on May 19 that it would set up the nearly $1.8 billion fund to provide a “systematic process” for people seeking relief for claims of “weaponization and lawfare” by the federal government. The DOJ’s judgment fund will pay for the $1.776 billion reserve.

Critics, including lawmakers from both parties, have framed it as a “slush fund” for the president’s political allies and worried that it opened an avenue for people convicted of violent crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot to seek financial restitution.

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers unveiled a bill on Thursday afternoon that would bar federal funds for the DOJ’s anti-weaponization reserve.

The plaintiffs argue the fund lacks proper oversight because it doesn’t require judicial review, nor does it require the DOJ to disclose the identities of claimants or the amounts they are compensated.

Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the far-right Proud Boys group who faced a 22-year prison sentence for his involvement in the insurrection before receiving a presidential pardon, said he would seek between $2 and $5 million.

“The residents of New Haven work too hard to see their federal tax dollars go into some unregulated $1.7 billion political slush fund that President Trump and his administration can use to pay off his political cronies and criminals,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said in a statement.

The plaintiffs also say the fund is unconstitutional in that it won’t provide relief for those Republican officials targeted. They claim that the implied viewpoint discrimination runs afoul of the First Amendment.

“By its own terms, the Anti-Weaponization Fund thus treats these plaintiffs as a disfavored class, excluding them from a government program on the basis of the political affiliation of those who targeted them for abuse, and, by extension, on the basis of the perceived political affiliation of the plaintiffs themselves,” the plaintiffs, represented by Democracy Forward, wrote in their complaint.

The National Abortion Federation argues the fund will enable those Trump has pardoned for Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act violations.

“This isn’t just an abuse of government power,” National Abortion Federation President and CEO Brittany Fonteno said in a statement. “It’s a direct threat to abortion providers, patients and communities across the country.”

The nonprofit Common Cause, which serves as a democracy watchdog, claims injury from the increased investment it will need to counter the rewarding of those who undermine elections.

“President Trump wants to take your hard-earned tax dollars and hand it over to criminals, cronies and insurrectionists who assaulted police officers in his name,” Virginia Kase Solomón, Common Cause president and CEO, said in a statement. “It’s unconscionable, and more importantly, it’s illegal.”

The DOJ claims the fund isn’t without precedent, citing a 2011 settlement in the caseKeepseagle v. Vilsack, which it says is structurally identical to its new fund.

The Obama-era agreement approved $680 million in funds for indigenous people who accused the government of discriminating against tribal farmers.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche admitted when the fund was unveiled that no federal judge had approved the DOJ’s new program, but held that it did not make a “big difference.” He claimed that while a judge signed off on the Keepseagle agreement, the courts had “nothing to do” with handling the money involved.

The fund derailed a budget bill as Republican lawmakers broke with the administration over the controversial program. Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent his colleagues home for the weekend on Thursday, meaning the chamber will not vote as initially planned on a major budget reconciliation package that would have funded immigration enforcement agencies and possibly handed Trump $1 billion for security upgrades at his White House ballroom construction site.

The plaintiffs seek to block the implementation of the funds as litigation proceeds. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.