The Largest Presidential Corruption Scandal in U.S. History as Trump Creates $1.8 Billion Slush Fund for Friends and J6 Rioters

Top Lawyer at Treasury Resigns in Protest and Disgust at $1.8 Billion Grift

The Treasury’s most senior lawyer has dramatically quit, just hours after the Trump administration unveiled a vast $1.776 billion fund to enrich Jan. 6 rioters and other MAGA loyalists. Brian Morrissey, the department’s general counsel, stepped down a mere seven months after his Senate confirmation, three sources aware of his decision told the New York Times.

His abrupt departure came on the same day that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the so-called “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” Morrissey, who also served in Trump’s first administration, is a former clerk for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a George H. W. Bush appointee.

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Trump’s Justice Department announces $1.8 billion fund slammed as ‘slush fund’

By Steve Benen / Maddowblog / May 19, 2026

The fact that we knew the scheme was coming didn’t make it any easier to accept. Three months after Donald Trump filed a radical (and by any fair measure, frivolous) $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, the president’s lawyers announced Monday morning that they had agreed to withdraw the case.

Hours later, the other side of the agreement came to public light: In exchange for dropping his rather silly lawsuit, Trump’s own Justice Department announced the creation of a pool of money that it’s calling “The Anti-Weaponization Fund” — which Democrats and legal experts are more accurately characterizing as a “slush fund.”

As the day progressed, additional details came into sharper focus, which made the dubious deal appear even more brazenly corrupt. It’s a story with a lot of moving parts, so let’s dig in with a Q&A.

How much money are we talking about?

According to the DOJ press release, the “fund” will have $1.776 billion. (With the nation poised to celebrate its 250th birthday, the amount is not coincidental.)

Will the money come from taxpayers or private sources?

The former. This isn’t analogous to Trump turning to corporate donors to help pay for his ballroom vanity project. Rather, every penny of the $1.776 billion will come from Americans’ pockets.

The administration has downplayed the importance of this, claiming that funds like these have been around for years. Is that true?

The details matter. The federal government has long had what’s known as the Judgment Fund, which has been used for monetary settlements, paying those who have filed suit against the government. It was not, however, designed to be used this way.

Why not?

Because the intended beneficiaries of Team Trump’s fund are the president’s political allies. Trump said as much on Monday afternoon, declaring at an unrelated event that he expects the money to go toward “reimbursing people” whom he believes were “horribly treated” by law enforcement during the Biden administration.

Who will control the pot of money?

Trump’s former lawyer, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, will be responsible for choosing five people who will administer the fund for the remainder of Trump’s second term. The shell game, however, is hardly subtle: Blanche is not only a presidential sycophant, desperate to do whatever Trump wants, but the president will also have the authority to fire commission members at his discretion, leaving little doubt that the White House will maintain control over the $1.776 billion.

Will Jan. 6 rioters get taxpayer-funded financial rewards as part of this scheme?

That seems very likely. Though the process is just now getting underway, Trump conceded on Monday that those who attacked the U.S. Capitol in his name would be eligible for payouts from the fund.

Are there any actual victims who might have legitimate claims to taxpayer money?

This whole endeavor is based in its entirety on a baseless conspiracy theory about the Biden administration weaponizing the levers of power against poor, unsuspecting Republicans and their like-minded allies. The party, however, has never presented a shred of credible evidence to bolster the conspiracy theory, despite extensive efforts to uncover some proof, making the whole idea behind the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” rather ridiculous.

Would the courts or Congress play an oversight role in this endeavor?

Based on the available information and the structure of the plan, no. Team Trump has agreed to give Team Trump $1.776 billion to be spent by Team Trump to benefit those politically aligned with Team Trump, with Team Trump responsible for overseeing itself.

Isn’t that inherently corrupt?

Yes. In fact, I lost count of how many observers characterized the gambit as among the most corrupt actions in U.S. presidential history, if not the most corrupt.

Are other Republicans really on board with this?

For the most part, prominent GOP officials said very little following Monday’s announcement, though Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, just two days after an embarrassing primary defeat, was critical of the deal, explicitly referring to the arrangement as a “slush fund” and suggesting that this gambit is at odds with the principle that the United States is “a nation of laws.”

Just as notably, Brian Morrissey, the Treasury Department’s top lawyer, resigned immediately after the deal was announced. Though Morrissey didn’t comment publicly on why he was quitting, under the structure of the scandalous deal, the Treasury Department will be responsible for depositing the $1.776 billion into an account to be controlled by the Blanche-appointed commission. (Before the right turns on Morrissey, it’s worth noting that he’s a Trump appointee who clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.)

So where does this leave us?

With a political scheme that looks an awful lot like a heist. Much of the political world has grown understandably inured to the day-to-day corruption that’s come to define Trump’s tenure, but a giant, taxpayer-financed reparations fund for Trump’s pals reflects new depths unlike anything Americans have ever seen.

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The president had a lot to say about the new “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

By Cameron Adams / The Daily Beast / May 18 2026

President Donald Trump has attempted to justify a new $1.7 billion “slush fund” for taxpayers to reimburse Jan. 6 rioters.

On Monday, Trump’s Justice Department announced the establishment of the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate MAGA allies he believed were wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration.

In exchange for the fund, where taxpayers foot the bill, Trump dropped his unprecedented $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in connection to, among other grievances, the 2022 raid of his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.

The fund’s establishment came ahead of court deadlines in the IRS case, which would have seen the Trump administration obligated to prove there was an actual case to be heard.

The Justice Department claimed the fund would provide a “systematic process to hear and redress claims of others who suffered weaponization and lawfare.”

During a healthcare affordability event at the White House on Monday, Trump was directly questioned why taxpayers should cover the costs.

“Well, it’s been very well received, I have to tell you,” Trump claimed.

Trump, who turns 80 in less than a month, then claimed he knew “very little” about the Anti-Weaponization Fund.

Jake Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman, at the U.S. Capital riots on Jan 6. 2021. brent stirton/Brent Stirton/Getty Images
“I wasn’t involved in the whole creation of it, and the negotiation. But this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated, it’s anti-weaponization. They’ve been weaponized,” Trump said.

“They’ve been, in some cases, imprisoned wrongly,” he continued. “They paid legal fees that they didn’t have. They’ve gone bankrupt, their lives have been destroyed. And they turned out to be right. I mean, it was a terrible period of time in the history of our country. And they worked on it… I know the Justice Department, it’s really been working on it very hard.”

House Democrats are aiming to block Trump’s “self-dealing settlement,” labeling the “unconstitutional” announcement a “huge slush fund” the president can use to reward his allies.

“This case is nothing but a racket designed to take $1.7 billion of taxpayer dollars out of the Treasury and pour it into a huge slush fund for Trump… to hand out to his private militia of insurrectionists, rioters, and white supremacists, including those who brutally beat police officers on January 6, 2021, and sycophant accomplices to his election stealing schemes,” Ranking Member Jamie Raskin said in a statement.

Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal said the fund “only deepens the stench of corruption.”

“The American people deserve a government that works for them, not Trump’s government by the grifter and for the grifter,” Neal said.

Trump granted clemency to nearly 1,600 people on the first day of his second term as president. They were convicted in connection with the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021, where his supporters violently assaulted police, smashed windows and raided congressional offices, fueled by the belief the 2020 election had been stolen.

Trump went on to say on Monday that rioters were “really treated brutally by a system that was so corrupt, with corrupt people running it, and they’re getting reimbursed for their legal fees and the other things that they had to suffer.”

Trump dodged answering a question on whether he or his family members would seek compensation from the fund.

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“A committee is being set up of very talented people, very highly respected people,” he stated. “And again, I didn’t do this deal. It was told to me yesterday, they said they’re doing something.”

Trump added, “I do believe there has to be compensation for people that were destroyed. You have families absolutely destroyed and it’s all going to be determined by a committee of four or five people that are respected and very brilliant at what they do.”

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.

The president’s attorney general would appoint the commission’s members to oversee the fund, with the Justice Department stating that Trump could remove any member.

The department said the allocation of $1.7 billion was based “upon the projected valuation of future claimants’ claims.”

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At least five rioters have been arrested on unrelated charges since being pardoned by Trump. Ryan Nichols was arrested last week for allegedly threatening a man with a gun in a church parking lot.

Last October, Christopher Moynihan was arrested for threatening to kill House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Andrew Taake, also pardoned by Trump for his violent role in the Jan. 6 riots, avoided prison last November for child sex offenses because of the sweeping pardons.

Taake, 37, pleaded guilty to soliciting what he believed was a 15-year-old girl for sex. However, the Daily Beast learned he was allowed to dodge prison for the sex offense due to the prison-time “credit” he accrued after attacking a police officer on Jan. 6.