President Donald Trump briefs reporters after he concluded his trip to Beijing aboard Air Force One on May 15, 2026 as he returns to the United States. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The Trump administration is reportedly working on a deal to settle the president’s lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for a $1.78 billion "Truth and Justice Commission" fund to pay Trump allies who were investigated by the Biden administration.
According to The New York Times, the plan is still being finalized and hasn’t been approved, but the unusual deal is already sparking criticism and ethics concerns.
Trump’s ‘Truth and Justice Commission’
What we know:
According to ABC News, the $1.78 billion fund would be called the "Truth and Justice Commission," and give taxpayer money to Trump allies who claim to be victims of the "weaponization of government." Some of those allies racked up hefty legal fees during various investigations by the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden.
The nearly 1,600 people charged with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol could be among those who receive compensation, according to The New York Times.
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Sources told ABC that the "President Donald J. Trump Truth and Justice Commission" would have five members. Four would be appointed by the attorney general and Trump would reportedly have the right to remove any of them without cause. The commission would not have to disclose how it decides to allot the money.
What we don't know:
It’s unclear if the fund will receive final approval, or when that would happen if it does. It’s also not clear where the money would come from. The White House wasn’t immediately available for comment.
The other side:
Democrats were quick to blast the plan as a "slush fund." Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, called it a $1.7 billion "fraud on the American taxpayer to line the pockets of his MAGA political allies, another installment in his ongoing effort to turn the federal government into a personal cash machine for his unpopular extremist movement."
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"This is a massive and unprecedented presidential plunder of the American people," Raskin said in a statement. "Worse still, this is only the beginning—a declaration that the prior payouts were just a down payment, and that he now intends to earmark billions more in taxpayer dollars for his political allies, sycophants and private militia of unemployed insurrectionists."
Trump said the money would go to charity
Dig deeper:
When Trump was asked about the IRS lawsuit in February, he said, "I think what we’ll do is do something for charity."
"We could make it a substantial amount," he said at the time. "Nobody would care because it’s going to go to numerous very good charities."
Trump’s IRS lawsuit
The backstory:
Earlier this year, Trump filed a lawsuit against the IRS, alleging that a previous leak of his and the Trump Organization’s confidential tax records caused "reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing."
In 2024, former IRS contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking tax information about Trump and others to two news outlets between 2018 and 2020.
The outlets weren’t named, but the time frame aligns with stories in The New York Times and ProPublica. The 2020 New York Times report found Trump paid $750 in federal income tax the year he first entered the White House, and no income tax at all some years, thanks to reported colossal losses.
Big picture view:
Tax and ethics experts have said the lawsuit raises significant legal and ethical questions. Attorneys who’ve been asked to review the lawsuit say Trump has "extraordinary" control over the IRS and that the "circumstances raise the specter that Defendants and their attorneys may instead be operating at the President's direction."
The Source: This article includes information from The New York Times, ABC News, The Associated Press and previous FOX Local reporting.