Trump to Get Audit Immunity as $1.8 Billion Fund in Doubt (2)

US officials are continuing with an agreement that bars the government from probing past tax filings from President Donald Trump and his businesses, according to a person familiar with the matter, while a plan to set up an “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is on hold.

The Trump administration on Monday privately signaled it was pausing plans to implement the $1.8 billion fund to pay people who claim they were victims of government “weaponization,” Bloomberg has reported.

Another part of the deal banning any audits and tax-related probes of Trump, his family members and his companies that were started before the settlement isn’t affected by the decision to place the fund on hold, said the person who asked to remain anonymous speaking about the sensitive matter.

Read More: Trump Plan to Pause Anti-Weaponization Fund Faces GOP Skepticism

The White House referred questions to Trump’s personal legal team.

“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 media organizations, according to a statement from the Trump legal team. “President Trump continues to hold those who wrong America and Americans accountable.”

Trump scored a major legal victory over the Internal Revenue Service last month as the agency he has long reviled was barred by the Justice Department from continuing any “known and unknown” probes into his tax returns. Under the deal, the IRS is “forever barred” from pursuing “any and all claims” or demands for damages that have been or could have been filed against Trump before the agreement was reached.

The settlement stemmed from a lawsuit that Trump filed earlier this year against the IRS and Treasury Department over the 2019 disclosure of his tax information. The deal also called for the establishment of a $1.8 billion fund for victims of alleged government “weaponization.”

The provision immediately became a political lightning rod for some Republican lawmakers, who have said they want more information on the White House’s plans for the fund before they agree to lift a blockade of a Trump-backed immigration enforcement bill.

‘Dead, Dead’

Some Republican senators on Tuesday blasted the bar on audits of Trump’s tax information, and indicated they want the administration to drop that, too.

Republican Senator John Curtis of Utah said the audit immunity is “part of the problem” with the settlement deal. “I need it dead, dead,” Curtis added.

Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said the audit provision is “another thing” about the settlement that gives him pause.

“We’re talking about family members that have had almost a doubling of their net worth in the last year and a half,” Tillis told reporters at the Capitol. “How can you not at least have them be subjected to the same thing I’m subjected to and every one of you?”

The Justice Department had said it would use the fund to compensate those alleging that they were victims of politically motivated investigations or legal action, what Trump and allies have called government “weaponization.”

The fund faced multiple lawsuits, including from police officers who responded to the attack on the Capitol. A federal judge in Virginia last week temporarily barred the administration from taking steps to operate the fund while she weighed a longer-term block.

The Justice Department said Monday it “disagreed strongly” with the decision but said it “will abide by the Court’s ruling.”

Lawmakers and legal plaintiffs urged the administration to clarify as quickly as possible its plans after the Justice Department put out a statement that only addressed one part of a legal challenge to the fund.

(Updates with Republican lawmaker comments.)

--With assistance from Zoe Tillman, Erik Larson, Erik Wasson and Caitlin Reilly.

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