A union that represents Treasury Department and IRS employees has joined in a lawsuit previously brought to block the Trump administration’s now-defunct “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” and is now seeking to block the separate settlement that extends immunity to President Donald Trump and members of his family from past audits of their tax returns.
In an amended civil complaint filed Thursday in the Eastern District of Virginia, the National Treasury Employees Union argued its members could be harmed by the immunity order by having to unlawfully extend protections to Trump and his family that other Americans don’t receive.
“Under the Immunity Order, career IRS employees will be forced to terminate ongoing audits of the President and his businesses, giving the President a lucrative and unconstitutional emolument,” the complaint said. “That would be unprecedented under any circumstance; it is all the more remarkable considering that the President profited an eye-popping $2.2 billion after returning to the White House.”
The $1.776 billion fund was announced in May by the Justice Department to compensate those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration.
It was proposed in exchange for Trump agreeing to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS as well as two civil claims for $230 million related to the Russia collusion investigation he faced during his first term in office and the 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate — sparking accusations by critics of self-dealing and a bipartisan uproar over the possible use of taxpayer money to pay rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
It’s not immediately clear how the judge overseeing the original lawsuit will respond to the amended complaint, after the Justice Department verified in writing this week that the fund, which was the target of the initial litigation, has been rescinded.
U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema had initially approved the litigation’s moving forward after the administration refused to verify under penalty of perjury that the fund was dead, but said she could revisit her decision and potentially toss the lawsuit if they altered course.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche affirmed in a written order this week that the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” was dead, under pressure from two Republican senators whose support for his nomination as attorney general hinged on whether he would make such a declaration.
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