President Donald Trump’s former adviser Michael Caputo has reportedly filed the first known claim to the new $1.8 billion fund established for supposed victims of lawfare.
“I was the target of the illegal Crossfire Hurricane investigation and our family suffered greatly during that dark era of political weaponization,” Caputo claimed in a letter to the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, according to a report by CNN.
The fund will be controlled by five members selected by Blanche and one selected with congressional input. The group has not established any guidelines as to who will be paid, but they have not ruled out paying Jan. 6th insurrectionists or agencies directly connected to Trump himself. They also have not explained how they will determine the amounts to be dispersed. The fund itself is controversial because Trump sued his own IRS, reportedly did not permit his Justice Department (which is supposed to defend the IRS from lawsuits) to advocate for the IRS in good faith and then skirted a judge’s order to make sure his suit was legal by having the two agencies he controlled settle without third-party oversight.
The settlement also bars the IRS from ever investigating Trump or his family members for past tax issues. Legal experts agree that there is no precedent for a sitting president pocketing money from his own IRS for himself and those he personally deems to have been wronged by the federal government. Skeptics argue that, despite Trump’s promises to not self-deal or dispense the money for partisan reasons, his past of self-dealing and using federal money to help allies suggests his promises should not be believed.
"Because the Notice does not reference any settlement or include a stipulation of settlement, there is no settlement of record," Judge Kathleen M. Williams, the judge assigned to oversee the case, commented on Monday. When the case had been referred to Williams, she argued that the potential for illegality was so great that she needed to consult legal experts before the parties could continue. Trump quickly rushed to come up with the settlement before Williams’ May 20th deadline.
"Unfathomable levels of corruption,” legal reporter Chris Geidner told Politico, adding that "it's the underscore waiting to fill in the date that really does it for me."
Geidner was referring to the document's date at the top of the page which read "May _____, 2026,” with a “19” later added in.
"New addition just inserted in settlement agreement: a promise that the IRS won't go after Trump, his companies, and his families for unpaid taxes,” legal analyst Harry Litman wrote. “Potential huge additional cost to Treasury -- i.e., us -- all in exchange for, well, nothing, an uncognizable lawsuit."
Another legal expert argued the settlement is an impeachable offense.
"I assumed we would never see the 'settlement agreement,' or whatever you want to call it, but evidently, DOJ went ahead and posted it on its website,” New Mexico civil litigator Owen Barcala posted on Bluesky. “A couple things are interesting if you can steel your mind for the outrage and horror of its general nature.”
After reviewing the various ways in which the settlement is unprecedented and arguably illegal, Barcala concluded that it "must be nice to have figured out the One Neat Trick to avoid Congressional appropriations. Just sue yourself, direct yourself to settle for billions, and agree with yourself that you can put that money wherever you want.”
He concluded, “Entities can also make claims, making it possible that Trump Org could make a claim for the NY litigation. To be eligible for relief, you only have to make a 'legal claim' stating that you were a victim, presumably in some kind of crayon."
Finally Christian Mott, a criminal law expert, argued that the settlement’s language suggests Trump plans on personally drawing from the fund.
"It seems like you'd only do this if you are anticipating that Trump will make a claim," Mott said. "The agreement also appears to allow Trump to continue pursuing his monetary damages claims through the Fund set up in the agreement. See Sec. III.B. So, he has effectively created a more favorable forum for himself, which is a huge benefit given that several of his claims were very weak."
Speaking with this journalist for Salon in 2018, a year which like 2026 included midterm elections, Caputo argued then what Trump supporters are arguing today: That he needs to prevail in the midterm elections in order to avoid being impeached for his alleged crimes.
“I agree with Steve Bannon 100 percent: the mid-term elections are a referendum on the President and a vote for Republican House candidates is a vote to stop a bogus partisan impeachment,” Caputo, who worked as a communications adviser for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and later as his assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services, told this reporter at the time. “I understand why some in the White House and official GOP organs may not behind this message — they have many reasons. But I’m not buying it: impeachment will definitely be on the Democrat agenda if they win the House, and this must be stopped. I’m not afraid to talk about this, regardless of where the Washington Republicans consultant class comes down on it.”
