Trump gets tax protection, but DOJ fund is dead Blanche says

The Justice Department will end a $1.8 billion anti-guns compensation fund created to resolve a lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against the Internal Revenue Service, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified to a House panel on Tuesday.

But Blanche said Trump, his family members and related business entities remain protected from tax audits and enforcement actions linked to tax returns filed before his case was settled out of court last month.

Blanche, who previously served as Trump’s criminal defense attorney, personally signed the additional agreement added to the agreement providing this protection to Trump and his family, a day after the agreement was announced.

“We are not moving forward on funding, period,” Rep. Grace Meng, ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, told DY.

Blanche repeatedly told Meng that the Justice Department would not operate the fund, regardless of the outcome of the many lawsuits challenging its legality.

The fund is designed to compensate alleged victims of prosecutorial overreach by the Justice Department under the Biden administration.

The acting attorney general’s statement came a day after the Justice Department said it would “comply” with a federal judge’s order that temporarily blocks the fund from operating or distributing money to claimants.

That statement led critics of the fund, including Republican senators, to worry that the Justice Department would restart the fund if the blockage was lifted.

“I’m not sure the weaponization fund can move forward,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaking at the CNBC CEO Council Summit, where Blanche also testified.

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