Judge Orders DOJ to Name the People Who Designed Trump's $1.8B Payout Fund

Since Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche declared the $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization fund" dead earlier this summer, the document that killed it left a hole big enough to drive a truck through. It never named who signed the original agreement. On Friday, September 4, a federal judge started closing that hole.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ivan D. Davis of the Eastern District of Virginia ordered the Trump administration to disclose the identities of whoever conceived the fund's structure, according to NBC News and the Washington Examiner, both of whom had reporters or sourcing confirming details from the Alexandria courtroom. The order came in a discovery dispute tied to a lawsuit challenging the fund's legality.

"Who came up with it? That's what conception means," Davis said from the bench, according to the Washington Post, as cited by Raw Story and the Washington Examiner.

What the Fund Actually Was

The fund traces back to a settlement between President Trump, two of his sons, his company, and the IRS, resolving Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the agency over a leak of his tax records. Beyond the payout pool, the deal reportedly gave Trump, his family and his businesses broad protection from IRS audits, according to NBC News.

The $1.8 billion was earmarked for people who claimed they "suffered weaponization and lawfare" under federal investigators, a category broad enough to potentially cover Jan. 6 rioters who were convicted of violent crimes and later pardoned by Trump. That possibility is what turned a quiet settlement into a Capitol Hill firestorm.

Senate Republicans pushed back hard enough that it threatened to sink Blanche's confirmation as deputy attorney general, per the Washington Examiner. Blanche eventually put it in writing: the fund "is rescinded," he said, and "there is no fund."

The Loophole, and Why Trump Won't Close It

Here's the catch NBC News and AOL both flagged: Blanche's rescission document didn't include the names of whoever signed the original agreement. That means the fund, and the IRS immunity tied to it, could theoretically be revived.

Trump hasn't exactly buried the idea. At a Cabinet meeting this summer, he said the fund "is dead, but you know, I wish it weren't," and added that he thinks the Jan. 6 defendants "were horribly treated," according to NBC News. This week, Treniss Evans III, a Jan. 6 defendant seeking a $1 million payout, posted a photo of himself in Blanche's office, per AOL's reporting, though it's not established what, if anything, that visit accomplished.

What the Judge Actually Ordered

Davis's ruling was narrower than what plaintiffs asked for. Democracy Forward, the nonprofit representing the plaintiffs, wanted the names of everyone involved in conceiving, creating, and carrying out the fund. Davis rejected that as verging on a "fishing expedition," according to the Washington Examiner, and limited the order to those who designed the fund's structure.

The DOJ has argued throughout this litigation that broad discovery into internal government deliberations risks becoming exactly the kind of open-ended rummaging through executive branch communications that courts are usually wary of allowing. Davis agreed with that concern enough to narrow the request. He just didn't agree it applied to the core question of who built the thing.

The names won't become public unless the case reaches trial. For now they go only to the plaintiffs' attorneys, per the Washington Examiner, and Davis directed both sides to treat the discovery materials as protected while litigation continues.

Aman George, senior counsel at Democracy Forward, called it "a significant step in getting to the bottom of the slush fund" in a statement to NBC News. "We will continue to meet the government in court until our investigation is complete and the slush fund is permanently halted," he said.

The plaintiffs include Andrew Floyd, a federal prosecutor fired after working Jan. 6 cases, along with a law professor previously sued by the Trump administration and career IRS employees, according to the Washington Examiner and NBC News.

DOJ Fights Back, Again

The Justice Department didn't respond to NBC News's request for comment Friday evening. But Raw Story reported DOJ moved immediately to appeal Davis's order, along with a second ruling from the same judge requiring the department to produce relevant evidence dating back to January 2025.

That appeal is now the thing to watch. If it succeeds, the names stay buried indefinitely. If it fails, discovery moves forward, though the public still won't see the names unless the case actually goes to trial. Either way, the underlying legal question—whether taxpayer money can be funneled through a settlement agreement to compensate the president's political allies—hasn't been resolved by any court yet.