The Justice Department added a new layer to President Donald Trump’s IRS settlement Tuesday, barring the federal government from pursuing certain tax-related claims involving Trump, his family and related business entities. Meanwhile, it leaves in place a nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund created one day earlier.
The new language, first reported by Politico, appears in a one-page addendum signed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. It says the government is “FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED” from pursuing claims, examinations or other matters tied to tax returns filed before the agreement took effect. The protection applies to Trump, family members, trusts, companies and affiliated entities.
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Deal adds tax protections
The original settlement released Monday resolved Trump’s lawsuit against the IRS over the disclosure of his tax information and created a fund for people who say they were unfairly targeted by government actions.
The tax language was not included in the original agreement.
The addendum was signed only by Blanche. It does not include signatures from the IRS, Trump’s current legal team or the officials who signed the settlement released Monday.
Former IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel told Politico he was unaware of any precedent for the agency agreeing in advance to permanently stop examining previously filed tax returns for a specific person or business. Former IRS Commissioner John Koskinen called the agreement a “terrible precedent.”
Officials defend the fund
Trump administration officials defended the fund and rejected claims that the president or his family would personally collect money from it.
Vice President JD Vance told reporters Tuesday the fund would not pay Trump, his administration or his relatives.
“The question is, is a dollar of this money going to the Trump administration? No,” Vance said. “Is a dollar of this money going to Donald Trump personally? No. Is a dollar of this money going to Donald Trump’s family? No.”
He did not rule out payments being made to some of the Jan. 6 rioters who assaulted law enforcement officers.
Blanche also defended the agreement during congressional testimony, calling it unusual but not unprecedented.
“It was done to address something that had never happened again either,” Blanche told lawmakers. “So there is an impressive nature of what we did yesterday in response to years and years of weaponization.”
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said criticism of the fund was premature because no claims have been filed and no payments have been made.
“I think that it’s way, way, way too early for us to rush to judgment on whether this was a good or a bad idea to describe it as a slush fund, or really even to criticize it,” Woodward said.
Democrats call deal self-dealing
Democratic lawmakers and outside critics sharply criticized the settlement, focusing on both the taxpayer-funded pot of money and the newly disclosed tax language.
Rep. Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, accused Trump of turning the federal government into “his personal protection racket.”
In a statement on X, he wrote, “this corruption marks a dark day for democracy.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., called the fund a “political slush fund” and said taxpayer money could go to Jan. 6 rioters or Trump’s political allies.
“We’ve never ever seen anything like this before,” Murphy said. “I get it that people, you know don’t know what a big number is anymore, but $1.7 billion, that’s a lot of money. That’s your taxpayer money… To hand out to his political allies around the country. That’s outrageous.”
But it’s not just Democrats criticizing the deal.
On Capitol Hill, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters, “I think that there are and will be, continue to be, a lot of questions around that that the administration is going to have to answer.”
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