Who’s eligible for the ‘Anti-Weaponisation Fund’? Trump’s critics think they might be
NBC via Getty Images
When Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced a $1.8bn fund that would make payouts to victims of government “weaponisation”, Michael Cohen is probably not who he had in mind.
“After years of being smeared, surveilled, financially exposed, imprisoned, and silenced, I will file a claim asking whether America’s justice system became America’s political weapon,” Cohen posted on X.
As the political fallout from the settlement continues, high-profile Trump critics indicated they too could seek compensation for what they viewed as unjust legal persecution.
Their announcements highlighted the opaque nature of the arrangement, which has led everyone from a former FBI director to a Trumpworld attorney to claim they could receive money.
Eligibility for the fund, on its face, seems extremely broad. In a memo sent to sceptical Republican US senators, Blanche justified the $1.8bn sum because “literally tens of millions of Americans were subjected to improper and unlawful government targeting”.
The memo also notes that “there is no partisan restriction; Democrats can submit claims, too.”
Cohen, who pleaded guilty to lying to Congress, tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions, bank fraud, and other offenses in 2018, has used his social media platforms to criticise Trump and wrote a book about his relationship with the president.
He was released from prison early in 2020 due to Covid-19 concerns, but was later sent back. A federal judge ordered his release, after finding the government was retaliating against him as he prepared to publish his book.
Trump and his attorneys (including Blanche, during Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial) have pushed back against Cohen’s allegations and questioned his credibility, pointing to his conviction for lying to Congress.
Former FBI Director James Comey, who the Justice Department indicted twice in the span of eight months in cases that criminal law experts have deemed legally dubious, told CNN he might apply for the fund.
“It appears that they’re serious,” said Comey, who has publicly sparred with Trump since the president fired him as FBI director in 2017. “It’s to compensate people who have been targeted by the justice department for, they say, personal, political, or ideological reasons.”
“So I’m guessing, I’ll be in line,” Comey said. “I hope I’ll be ahead of those who savagely beat police officers and sacked the Capitol.”
In Comey’s first indictment, which a judge later dismissed, his attorneys argued the case should be tossed on the grounds of vindictive prosecution. They are expected to make a similar motion in a new case alleging Comey threatened to harm the president in a social media post depicting seashells that spelled the numbers “86 47”.
Blanche has defended new charges, saying it was “serious when you threaten the president of the United States”.
Allison Gill, a commentator behind the podcast and X account “Mueller, She Wrote,” posted that she would seek “$8.647 million in compensation for weaponized lawfare” after she alleged the Trump administration retaliated against her and she lost her government job due to the contents of her show.
The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment, or clarification, about whether Cohen, Comey, or Gill were eligible for funds.
The fund will be overseen by five people appointed by the US attorney general, according to Blanche’s memo to the Senate, one of whom will be chosen in coordination with Congress.
After Blanche announced the settlement on Monday, many critics assumed that the fund would be used for payouts to Trump allies, including the hundreds of individuals convicted in connection with the Capitol Hill riot on 6 January, 2021. Trump later pardoned them on his first day back in office.
Conservative political figures have also applied. Michael Caputo, a first-term Trump administration official, posted his request for $2.7m as a result of the FBI investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers – some of whom were forced into hiding on January 6 as a mob ransacked their offices – have pressed Blanche for more details about who could benefit from the fund.
The settlement agreement bars Trump or his family from receiving payouts.
Blanche’s meeting with Senate Republicans on Thursday grew tense, according to media reports, with many lawmakers voicing their opposition.
Rep Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican, sent a letter to Blanche asking for specifics, including whether “individuals convicted of federal crimes associated of acts of violence” would be eligible to receive payouts.
Fitzpatrick also introduced legislation with Rep Tom Suozzi, a New York Democrat, that would bar the use of federal funds to pay claims submitted to the fund.
Blanche has worked to convince Republican senators, whose opposition could scupper the administration’s initiatives, that they money was not intended as a “slush fund,” as multiple Democratic lawmakers have alleged.
Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he is “not a big fan” of the fund.
Other Republicans, however, support the idea of the fund.
In a floor speech, Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama defended the fund, claiming that “hundreds” of “innocent patriotic Americans sat behind bars for the past five years over this made-up witch hunt” as a result of the January 6 investigations and prosecutions.
