California governor Gavin Newsom is looking to thwart Donald Trump’s $1.776bn “anti-weaponization fund” by imposing a 100% tax on any payout received by state residents.
In May, the Department of Justice (DoJ) announced a fund to compensate alleged “victims of lawfare and weaponization”. It’s unclear who qualifies under this category.
The fund was the product of a settlement reached between Trump and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) – the agency the president sued over his leaked tax returns.
Critics, including Newsom, have slammed the fund as a “boondoggle” designed to divert money to Trump’s allies. Speculation has swirled that its benefactors could include the individuals who were arrested in the 6 January 2021 siege of the US Capitol. The Trump administration has described the rioters as patriots and since pardoned many who were charged in relation to the attack.
“People who assault cops and overthrow democracy don’t deserve a taxpayer-funded payday,” Newsom wrote in a Wednesday post to X, after announcing his plan at a news conference.
Five people appointed by the US attorney general will preside over the $1.776bn, which will be funneled from a fund typically used to pay court judgments.
Todd Blanche, the acting US attorney general, characterized the fund as an avenue “to make right the wrongs that were previously done”. Quarterly reports on who has received monetary relief and in what amount will be sent to the attorney general. Claims will not be processed after 1 December 2028, at which point any remaining amount will be returned to the federal government, according to the DoJ.
The DoJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how it would address Newsom’s proposed tax.
It’s the latest in a longstanding bitter feud between Newsom and Trump.
The two politicians have often traded jabs in the press and over social media. They are at odds on a number of issues in the Golden state including the federal deployment of ICE agents, how healthcare fraud has been handled and election integrity.