US President Donald Trump has drawn criticism over a new fund, worth more than $1.7 billion, for alleged victims of government actions.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, called the settlement a "farce" on Monday.
"Donald Trump sued his own government. Trump's [Department of Justice] settled with Trump. And now Trump gets a nearly $2 billion slush fund to reward his own allies, loyalists, and insurrectionists," he said. "That is not justice. That is corruption happening in broad daylight."
According to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), $1.776 billion will be allocated to a new fund intended to compensate alleged victims of politically or ideologically motivated actions by the US government.
The fund is the result of a settlement between Trump and the DoJ: In January, the president, acting as a private individual, sued the government, seeking billions of dollars in compensation.
The lawsuit accused a former employee of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of unlawfully accessing tax data from the family-owned Trump Organization during Trump's first term (2017-21) and sharing it with the media. The IRS is part of the US Treasury Department.
The DoJ announced that the district attorney's office has reached an agreement with Trump to establish the fund. In return, the lawsuit was dropped. Schumer said Trump was "taking money out of your paycheck, America, and putting it into pockets of his cronies, criminals, and cop-beaters."
According to several US media outlets, the fund could be aimed at Trump supporters who participated in the 2021 storming of the Capitol and were charged during Joe Biden's presidency. Trump had issued numerous pardons since taking office in 2025.
Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn his election defeat to Biden. Several people died during and after the attack, and numerous law enforcement officers were injured, some seriously.
