Trump admin considers nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate allies targeted in DOJ investigations, sources say

By Alayna Treene, Paula Reid, CNN

(CNN) — Trump administration officials are considering establishing a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who feel they have been unfairly investigated under previous administrations, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

The idea was floated as part of ongoing talks between President Donald Trump’s lawyers and DOJ about resolving the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS.

One of the sources described the proposal as an effort to compensate those who have been “wrongly targeted by the weaponization of Biden’s DOJ.” Two other sources suggested the fund would not necessarily be limited to those targeted under former President Joe Biden, but “anyone unfairly investigated under any administration.”

The terms of the settlement are expected to prevent any payments from going directly to Trump, one of the sources said. The White House wanted to avoid potential ethical issues raised by the president taking a payment from his own Justice Department. Still, if the fund is established it’s virtually certain to face challenges in court.

Officials at DOJ, IRS and the White House have been involved in the discussions, but it is unclear which agency the funds would be drawn from. Details of the settlement have not been finalized, according to the sources. An announcement could come as soon as this week.

The fund is expected to be named the “The President Donald J. Trump Truth and Justice Commission,” one of the sources told CNN. The proposed $1.776 billion amount is a purposeful nod at the year of the country’s founding, as the America 250 celebration approaches.

ABC News first reported on the potential settlement deal.

CNN previously reported that the Justice Department had been internally discussing different options to settle the president’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS, including a potential provision that the IRS would drop audits on the president, members of his family and the family’s businesses.

Trump sued the IRS and Treasury Department in January, accusing the agency of an unauthorized leak of his tax returns during his first administration. The president — who filed the suit alongside his sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, in federal court in Florida — is suing personally, not in his official capacity as president.

“The IRS wrongly allowed a rogue, politically-motivated employee to leak private and confidential information about President Trump, his family, and the Trump Organization to the New York Times, ProPublica and other left-wing news outlets, which was then illegally released to millions of people,” a spokesman for Trump’s legal team told CNN in a statement. “President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”

The lawsuit alleged that the government failed to protect Trump and the Trump Organization’s confidential tax information, which was leaked to the press by Charles Littlejohn, a former IRS contractor.

Littlejohn, who worked as a government contractor at Booz Allen Hamilton, illegally obtained and disclosed Trump’s tax returns to publications like the New York Times and ProPublica, the suit alleged. He has since been sentenced to five years in prison.

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