N.Y. lawmaker leads effort to kill Trump $1.8B ‘slush fund’

Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represents sections of Queens and Long Island, is leading a bipartisan effort to kill President Donald Trump’s “anti-weaponization” fund.

The nearly $1.8 billion fund has been slammed as a “slush fund” for Trump’s allies by several Democratic and Republican lawmakers — who have expressed concern that it could be used to pay Jan. 6 rioters, including extremist groups such as the Proud Boys.

The fund was born out of a legal settlement involving Trump, the IRS and the Justice Department. Trump agreed to drop a $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the 2019 leak of his private tax records in exchange for the creation of the fund.

The approximately $1.8 billion will be pulled from a taxpayer-funded coffer currently used to pay legal settlements for the federal government. The money, according to the Justice Department, will be used to provide payouts to people who claim they were legally targeted for political purposes.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who formerly served as the president’s personal attorney, will appoint the five people who get to dictate which applicants receive money. One of the five appointees will be installed in consultation with Congress. The president has the power to fire members of that five-person commission “without cause.”

A DOJ press release states that there will be no partisan requirements to file a claim. Trump wrote on Truth Social that the fund will help those who were “badly abused” by what he refers to as the “evil, corrupt and weaponized Biden Administration.”

While no payouts have been made to-date, several Jan. 6 rioters have already sued the government seeking financial compensation. In a recent press briefing, Vice President JD Vance refused to promise that rioters who beat Capitol Police officers will not receive compensation from the fund.

Republicans, ranging from Senate Majority Leader John Thune to Sen. Mitch McConnell, have criticized the fund.

Suozzi, a Democrat, has teamed up with Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, his Republican co-chair on the Bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, in an attempt to kill the fund. The pair introduced legislation known as the “Bipartisan Transparency for American Taxpayers Act,” which would bar federal dollars from being used for such payouts.

“People are freaking out about how expensive everything is. And this is such an out-of-touch bill that the president would say, ‘I’m going to take billions of dollars and put it in a special fund to take care of people that came here on Jan. 6 and did some dramatically bad things,’” said Suozzi.

At least three lawsuits are threatening the fund. Among them is a lawsuit filed by a retired Capitol police officer and Washington, D.C. police officer that responded on Jan. 6. The men allege the fund violates several federal laws including a section of the 14th Amendment that states “...neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”

The fund is set to process claims through December 2028.

In a press release, Fitzpatrick wrote, “Congress has a constitutional responsibility to protect taxpayer dollars and oversee federal spending.”

He added, “Taxpayer dollars will not become a discretionary payout fund. Transparency is not optional. Accountability is not negotiable.”