May 19, 2026
The fallout has begun after President Trump’s own Department of Justice admitted to an unprecedented settlement outside of the court’s jurisdiction with President Trump, his family, and his businesses. Democrats, Republicans, and even former Capitol Police officers are now pushing back to perhaps stop all of it. But can they?
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, make sure you check out this video from yesterday. But the bottom line is President Trump sued the IRS for allegedly disclosing his tax returns, claiming $10 billion in damages. Before that case could be fully examined by a federal judge — and maybe even dismissed as frivolous by that judge — Trump’s own Department of Justice gave up on defending the U.S. government and taxpayers and instead quietly settled with the president in exchange for him dropping the lawsuit.
The settlement includes a $1.8 billion taxpayer-funded anti-weaponization fund to compensate people the DOJ and President Trump say were prosecuted by the federal government for political reasons. And the settlement also includes an unprecedented deal that blocks the IRS from auditing or investigating the past tax returns of the president, his family, his extended family, related individuals, or his businesses and trusts.
Today, Trump said he has no idea how this settlement came to be.
Even though he wasn’t involved, he thinks this anti-weaponization fund is needed.
There has been a lot of blowback from Democrats and even several House and Senate Republicans who are saying, “Eh, I don’t know how any of this can be legal. We have a lot of questions we need answers to.” And before I tell you about the pushback and what people are doing, you first need to understand the problem.
Which is — because this settlement was reached outside of the court between President Trump and the Department of Justice, which Trump also controls because it is headed up by his own former personal lawyer, no judge had to sign off on this. Now, it’s true settlements outside of court happen all the time. There’s nothing illegal about that. But this particular settlement raises serious legal questions because it not only involves nearly $2 billion of taxpayer money and interference in IRS operations, but also raises questions about whether it’s even legal for a U.S. government agency clearly controlled by the president to enter into a settlement with the president.
In essence, is it legal for someone to settle with himself and be rewarded with taxpayer money?
And when it comes to the anti-weaponization fund, some of the legal questions being raised are: under what authority is the Department of Justice going to hand out this money to these politically persecuted people? Yes, Congress has authorized the DOJ to settle cases and award monetary compensation in certain cases, but did Congress authorize this amount of money for this particular use?
And when it comes to this ban on audits for past Trump tax returns, under what authority does the DOJ get to make that deal? There’s a law from the Tax Reform Act of 1976 era that explicitly prohibits the president, vice president, and White House staff from requesting or attempting to influence any IRS audit or investigation into a specific taxpayer. However, while it’s highly unusual, the DOJ is allowed to enter into a settlement that blocks the IRS from pursuing audits of a specific person. The question is whether the White House was involved in this settlement arrangement, and if so, does that violate the 1976 law?
And that brings me to the effort to stop all of this. The bottom line here is in order to stop this, either someone with standing has to file a lawsuit and a judge has to block it, or Congress needs to pass a bill. Former Capitol Police officers filed a federal lawsuit to stop the anti-weaponization fund today, but whether they have standing to bring the case is questionable.
Meanwhile, Democrats in the House and the Senate have already introduced several pieces of legislation to block any payments from that anti-weaponization fund from going out. But because Democrats are not in the majority, I’m focused more on what the Republicans are doing and saying today because, let’s be honest, in order for any of this to be stopped, at least some Republicans are going to have to be on board. And several are signaling they already are, including Senator Bill Cassidy.
“I oppose that. It’s as if somebody sued himself, and there is no legal precedent.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, told reporters he is “not a big fan” of any of this. And then said this…
Believe it or not, that’s a pretty strong statement from the Senate majority leader.
And over in the House, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick, a Republican from Pennsylvania, said Republicans are going to “try to kill it” — meaning the fund and this Trump IRS deal. Whether he can rally enough support to do that is unclear. But what is clear is after Fitzpatrick made that statement, today Trump issued this threat.
Watch Bill Cassidy’s statement here.
Listen to Thune here.
Read today’s IRS settlement here.
Read yesterday’s anti-weaponization fund deal here.
