There Has Never Been
an Example of Presidential Corruption Like This
May 20, 2026
The editorial board is a group of opinion journalists whose views are informed by expertise, research, debate and certain longstanding values. It is separate from the newsroom.
Has there ever been an
episode of presidential corruption so blatant and threatening to constitutional
order? Certainly not in modern times. President Trump’s Justice Department is
using taxpayer money to create a $1.8 billion political slush fund. Ostensibly
set up to compensate those who the department claims have “suffered
weaponization and lawfare,” it will in fact reward loyalists willing to defy
the law and commit violence on behalf of the president.
The fund manages to
combine three of Mr. Trump’s most alarming behaviors. One, it is an obvious
form of corruption, coming from a president who has used his office to enrich himself, his family and his allies. Two, the
fund continues his pattern of using the Justice Department as an enforcer to punish his perceived opponents
and protect his friends and allies. Three, the fund is his latest attempt to rewrite history about the 2020 election and the
Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress.
It is worth pausing to
put the fund into the larger context of Mr. Trump’s political project: He is
destroying pillars of American democracy to empower himself. He claims
elections are legitimate only if he wins. He uses federal law enforcement to
investigate and prosecute his perceived enemies. He purges his party of
officials who defy him. He describes members of the other party and civil
society as traitors and enemies. He incentivizes his supporters to break the
law on his behalf and rewards them when they do. He directs his allies to change election rules to keep his party in power.
Mr. Trump’s project has not yet
succeeded, at least not fully. Many Americans — in the
judicial system, in Congress, in state governments and elsewhere — continue to
stand up for democracy and oppose his autocratic ambitions. By now, though,
nobody should have illusions about what he is attempting to do.
The fund’s existence is a story of political self-dealing. It is nominally
the product of a flimsy personal lawsuit that Mr. Trump filed this year against
the Internal Revenue Service, which he oversees, over the leaking of his tax
returns during his first term. That lawsuit led to an absurd negotiation, in
which the lawyers on one side worked for Mr. Trump the citizen and those on the
other side worked for Mr. Trump the president.
Adding to absurdity, the
government lawyers reported to Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, who
previously worked as Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer. A federal judge in Miami
helping to oversee the case, Kathleen Williams, pointed out that the two sides were not
adversaries, which called into question the process. Even Mr. Trump
acknowledged the situation shortly after filing the suit by saying, “I am
supposed to work out a settlement with myself.”
Yet the talks proceeded
because Mr. Trump’s Justice Department was in charge. Unsurprisingly, they led
to a deal that was extremely favorable to him.
In exchange for the
president’s dropping the suit against the I.R.S., both he and his supporters
will receive government handouts. For Mr. Trump, the handout comes in the form
of permission to have cheated on his taxes. The government has granted him and his family immunity from
ongoing audits of his tax payments. He has a long history of using questionable accounting maneuvers, and the audits
could have cost him more than $100 million, experts have said. Now they will
cost him nothing.
For his supporters, the handouts will
come from the slush fund. The Justice Department will tap a permanent stream of
revenue that Congress created in 1956, known as the Judgment Fund, to settle
lawsuits against the federal government. As Paul Figley, a former Justice
Department official, noted, the new fund appears to be both legal and at odds
with Congress’s intent. “It’s horrible policy,” Mr. Figley told The Times.
The department has allocated $1.8 billion for what it calls, in
an Orwellian flourish, an Anti-Weaponization Fund and invited applications from
people who have been targeted for “political, personal or ideological reasons.”
Mr. Blanche — who holds his position as acting attorney general largely because
of his willingness to use federal power in service of Mr. Trump’s personal
whims — will appoint a five-member board, with congressional leaders given
input on one of the five. Mr. Trump can fire any of the members at any time.
To understand who is
likely to receive payments, look at who has previously received settlements
from the Justice Department. Michael Flynn, who was briefly Mr. Trump’s
national security adviser in 2017, received $1.25 million, even though he pleaded
guilty to lying to F.B.I. agents. The family of Ashli Babbitt, who participated
in the Jan. 6 riot, and whom federal agents shot as she and others approached
the House floor, received nearly $5 million, even though investigators
cleared the shooters of wrongdoing. The Trump administration is paying off
people who committed violence and crimes, as long as they are Trump allies.
The fund’s timeline is
the giveaway of how Mr. Trump plans to use it. The Justice Department said the
fund would stop processing claims on Dec. 15, 2028, weeks before the president
is to leave office, ensuring the money is distributed while he still holds the
power to fire anyone who objects. The window is precisely the window of Mr.
Trump’s authority.
Even some of Mr. Trump’s
usual defenders are unhappy. Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota and
the majority leader, meekly said that he was “not a big fan” of the fund. Brian
Morrissey, the Treasury Department’s general counsel, resigned within hours of the announcement, seven
months after the Senate had confirmed him.
Providing payoffs is only part of the point. Another, according to Mr.
Blanche, is “ensuring this never happens again.” What, exactly, is “this”? The
evenhanded enforcement of the law.
The Trump administration
has already fired federal agents who did their duties by investigating the
president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Mr. Trump has issued blanket clemency to more than 1,500
Jan. 6 rioters, some of whom may soon receive payments. His Justice Department
secured an indictment of James Comey, the former F.B.I. director, on dubious
charges as retribution for his role in the investigation of the 2016 Trump
campaign’s Russia ties. The fund continues the effort to turn law enforcement
into a tool of raw political power.
The fund also encourages
future lawlessness on Mr. Trump’s behalf. It sends the message that he will use
his power not only to shield people who break the law from accountability but
also to shower benefits on them. Just as punishment is a deterrent, rewards are
an incentive.
After President Richard
Nixon’s abuses in the Watergate scandal, Congress and the executive branch
built rules and traditions to ensure that federal agencies, especially the
Justice Department, operated in the public interest, rather than that of the
president. Mr. Trump has tried to break this
system. Once he is gone, it will need to be rebuilt, and better than before. He
has exposed and exploited its flaws and gaps. Unless they are filled, Mr.
Trump’s corruption and perversion of justice risk becoming the norm.
In the meantime, Americans should be
cleareyed about what the president is doing. He is taking their money and
showering it on criminals.
