The Top 10 Reasons Donald Trump’s $1.776 Billion “Weaponization” Slush Fund and Super-Pardon for His Family and Businesses Are Unconstitutional, Illegal and a Fraud on the Court

Washington, D.C. (May 27, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released a new fact sheet detailing the top 10 reasons why Trump’s $1.776 billion slush fund and super-pardon for his family and businesses are unconstitutional, illegal, and a fraud on the court.

1. Violates Article I and Usurps Congress’s Appropriations Powers. The creation of the $1.776 billion federal slush fund violates Article I of the Constitution by usurping Congress’s exclusive power to appropriate federal dollars. It purports to draw from the Judgment Fund, but $1.776 billion in tax dollars will go into a slush fund to pay out third parties with no connection to the lawsuit settled by the President. 

2. Violates Article III and Usurps Powers of the Judiciary. Congress has not vested the President and five Administration appointees with the power to distribute any money based on their own definitions of terms like “lawfare” and “weaponization.” Absent congressional authorization, the five-member fund violates Article III of the Constitution, which gives the Judiciary exclusive power to decide legal “cases and controversies.”

3. Violates the 14th Amendment’s Prohibition on Paying Insurrectionists. Establishing a fund that compensates convicted January 6th rioters, insurrectionists and seditious conspirators violates Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which says the United States shall not “assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States” and “all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.”

4. Violates the Constitution’s Domestic Emoluments Clause by Paying the President Beyond His Salary. Taking $1.776 billion out of the U.S. Treasury to settle a lawsuit brought by the sitting President—while also forever barring criminal, civil and administrative investigations into the President, including wiping away any back taxes owed—violates the Domestic Emoluments Clause. Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution provides that, other than his official salary, the President shall not receive “any other Emolument from the United States.” This is the biggest domestic emolument windfall in American history. 

5. Contradicts IRS’s Prior Position that It Is Not Liable for Contractor Crimes. The IRS has argued in other cases that it is not, by law, liable for the criminal actions of third-party government contractors, and IRS lawyers made this point clear in a 25-page memo. Political appointees overrode this determination in order to enter into the sham settlement with President Trump.  

6. Time-Barred by the Statute of Limitations, as the IRS’s Own Lawyers Argued. Trump’s lawsuit in Trump v. IRS is time-barred by the statute of limitations because it was brought long after the two-year deadline following the alleged violation of law. The IRS contractor pled guilty to leaking the relevant information in October 2023, meaning Trump had to file his lawsuit by October 2025 at the latest. He instead filed suit on January 29, 2026, months too late. As the IRS’s own lawyers strongly argued in their memo, Trump’s lawsuit should have been dismissed on this straightforward basis.

    

7. Violates the Constitution’s “Cases and Controversies” Requirement for Bringing a Lawsuit. The lawsuit was collusive and not an actual “case or controversy” within the meaning of the Constitution. The plaintiff therefore lacked personal standing and the district court lacked jurisdiction to adjudicate the case at all. Indeed, President Trump himself admitted that any settlement with the IRS was like “a settlement with myself.” The judge presiding over the lawsuit seemed on the verge of dismissing the case on this basis when the parties entered into the sham settlement. 

8. Exceeds the AG’s Authority to Grant Trump and Friends a Bizarre “Super Pardon” Across All Federal Agencies. Acting Attorney General Blanche has no authority to issue a blanket “FOREVER” cancellation of any criminal, civil or administrative liability for Donald Trump, his family and their businesses for “known and unknown” violations of law, including unpaid taxes and fines. The Super-Pardon wasn’t even a term of the settlement agreement; the Attorney General unilaterally added it in a day after the parties agreed to and signed the settlement agreement. In fact, it lacks any relation to the claims Trump made in his lawsuit, which were focused on a third-party IRS contractor’s leaking of Trump’s tax returns. 

9. Violates Federal Law that Prohibits the President from Interfering with IRS Audits. Under federal law, it is a crime for the President to “request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer.” Permanently terminating any and all audits against the President, his own family members and any of their businesses as part of a settlement with the President directly and thoroughly violates this law.

10. Usurps Congress’s Powers to Legislate Federal Crimes and Violates the First and Fifth Amendments. The fund focuses on people who are alleged victims of “Lawfare” and “Weaponization,” which are not defined in any federal or state statute but seem to revolve around the viewpoint-specific concept of misuse of power “by Democrat elected officials.” This incoherent and sloppy pass at making “law” usurps Congress’s exclusive power to legislate and create federal crimes. These vague terms allow the administrators of the slush fund to dole out taxpayer funds to the President’s most loyal and violent followers on an arbitrary, lawless and partisan basis, a violation of both the First and Fifth Amendments. 

Click here to read the fact sheet.